


The long way home

by Katie237



Series: Identity [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Amnesia, Barry is in Europe, Barry is missing, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-19
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 01:32:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 75,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14368017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katie237/pseuds/Katie237
Summary: Lost in Europe, amnesiac and wounded, Barry must rely on the help of a new mysterious ally in hope to return to the home he doesn't remember having. Meanwhile, in Central City, a new Meta is determined to show to the world the Flash is never coming back and she doesn't care how many casualties she leaves in her trail.





	1. Pain

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Welcome to the 3rd and final story in the Wounds of the Soul/Spirit trilogy. Just so you know, you don't have to read the first 2 to read that one, since it's the most ''stand-alone'' of the 3, but if you enjoy this story, I encourage you to go back to see how everything started. And, to help you all, here's a little recap for those who haven't read the other stories and to refresh the memory for the rest of you:
> 
> 1) A guy named Hyde, born in the 19th century, was in posession of half of the Fountain of Youth and was looking for the second part of it in order to become completelly immortal
> 
> 2) He captured Barry and another man, named Matt Carter (a Meta with the ability to supress other Meta's powers) in order to accomplish that goal
> 
> 3) Hyde ''brainwashed'' (it's more complicated than that, but the results are similar) both of them and under Hyde's influence, Barry broke Cisco's arm and almost killed Caitlin, among other things
> 
> 4) After the team managed to turn Barry back to normal, Barry left and returned months later , hoping to find and heal Matt, the other prisonner who became his friend
> 
> 5) They failed at helping Matt, who died and left a widow and 3 children behind, including a newborn baby. To avenge his friend's death, Barry returned to the place that turned him and destroyed it
> 
> 6) He found the place, in the South of France, thanks to a convenient meeting with a strange young blonde named Olivia that Barry randomly stumbled upon.
> 
> 7) While destroying it, he got hit by a magical wave from the source of that place's power and got badly stabbed, leaving him dying and alone in the snow
> 
> Plus, don't forget that, in that story, Flashpoint never happened, so there's no Savitar, no Kid Flash and no Killer Frost, even if this 3rd story take place at the end of January 2017.

How long had Barry been unconscious? Hours? Minutes? More? Less? Through the thick fog of his mind and the hammer constantly banging in his head it was impossible to tell. All he wanted to do right now was go back to sleep and hide away from all the pain still overwhelming his limbs and battered body, he desperately needed to escape from all of this. Why couldn't everything just stop now? What was wrong with him? He couldn't even remember his own name at the moment. Where was he? Who was he? What was keeping him from slipping back into the comforting darkness? Was it because of the distant sound screaming his name? Well, screaming one name since Barry had no idea if that name was even his own.

"H'ry…st….me."

That voice, that distant feminine voice sounded so, so far away and Barry just wanted to ignore it. He just wanted to mumble  _'let me sleep'_  and  _'go away'_ , but speaking proved to be just too much of an effort. Not a single sound made it out of his throat. Even the task of opening his eyelids turned out to be too much of an insurmountable task as all the hero was able to do was simply stay motionless with a barely perceptible breathing. Maybe if he could stay in that position long enough the voice would go away on his own and leave him alone… except, it didn't. With every passing second, the words were getting clearer, but Barry was too weary to show any sign that he acknowledged them or the presence of that other person.

"Henry? Please, say something," every word was being spoken with obvious concern as fingers ended up being pressed against his neck.

"Stay with me, Henry. Stay with me," said the woman once more before turning him on his back and pressing both hands on Barry's stomach.

Under the pain that erupted all over under the contact, he managed a weak grunt in protest, but it only lasted a second as the feeling got replaced by warmth and the pain started to get dull. Whatever was wrong with him, was it over? Was he finally dying and losing all his senses? Under the numb sensations, he barely felt anything as a sharp object was being extracted out of his body, but he sure heard the suction sound that came with it. Groaning again, he allowed his mind and body to relax as darkness came back for him, lunging at him like a wild animal to drag him away from the cold and the sufferings. At this point, Barry couldn't care less about not knowing if he ever was going to emerge from his sleeping state again or if he was about to leave this existence. It didn't matter, not as long as the voice was there to let him know he wasn't alone, even if that voice almost sounded frustrated and so far away.

"C'me on H'ry. F'ght! Y' can…"

The rest was lost to the speedster.

So tired. So much pain. Someone panting. So cold. Being dragged in the snow. These were the first sensations that Barry's senses registered the next time he came around. So, not dead, apparently. A weak whimper was the only sound that was able to pass his lips, one too quiet to be heard over the crunching sound of boots slowly progressing in the snow or over the heavy breathing emanating from the person dragging him by the shoulders.

Without warning, all contact on his shoulders were lost and the couple of inches drop to the ground sent a new wave of pain and nauseous. Pushing these feelings aside wouldn't have been so difficult if it wasn't for the lump in his throat that was making it hard to breathe around. Coughing hard to clear his airway seemed like a good idea at the time, but it instantly turned into a coughing fit, one the speedsters he couldn't stop.

"Henry? Henry? You with me?" the voice inquired, rushing to his side and crunching down in the snow. Every word was definitely clearer and easier to hear this time around, despite the whistling wind freezing him to the bones.

 _'Think so',_  that's what he wanted to say, but it only ended up in more sneezing and incomprehensible mumbles. Well, his hearing was better at least, but his eyelids were still tightly sealed shut, leaving him as vulnerable as a newborn.

"Come on, let me help you," added the woman's voice, once again placing herself behind the man and helping him in a seated position, easing his current condition, "we can't stay here, we need to take refuge from the storm."

Storm? What storm? Oh…. probably the reason why the hero could feel some small, cold and wet particles on his face. Why was he in a snowstorm to begin with? At the moment, all he cared about was to finally be able to breathe. Now, he just wished the pain would go away.

It didn't take long, as soon as his breathing got easier, for Barry to start slumping a bit more under the touch, surrendering to the pain and exhaustion.

"Go back to sleep, I'll take care of you…I'm so sorry for everything."

What was she sorry for? The woman sounded exhausted, she almost sounded as bad as he was feeling. Did she get hit by the same train that ran over him? Fighting sleep away, he managed to crack open his eyelids, well, just a tiny bit, just enough to start distinguishing the blurry snowflakes floating around and, moments later, the pale face hovering over his. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but he couldn't because, in the next moment, his world turned back to black.

The third time Barry came around, it was with his back sprawled on something really hard and unequal, something like rock maybe? He still felt wet and cold, but at least, this time, there was a small and constant source of warmth on his right. Slightly moving his head in that direction, he managed to open his eyes just a little, just enough to spot the crackling fire. Grunting his teeth together, he rose his right hand to his stomach, trying to ease the constant agony in his guts. By moving his limbs, he disturbed the extra layer of clothes on himself, making it resonate in the room filled with silence. What was this place? A cave?

"Hey…H'y!" Said a voice near and closing in, alerted by the sudden noises. Hurrying footsteps were closing on his position and a gentle hand laid itself on his arm.

Drunkenly, Barry moved his hand away from his wound to reach for the long golden lock of hairs hanging close to his face. Except, the extra movement of his limb caused a groan of agony to pass his shaking lips.

"Shhh…go back to sleep, Henry."

"Who…" finally, the first word of the… was it night? Were they still in the same calendar date? Even if Barry couldn't remember much right now, he knew, deep down, that it wasn't how his voice was supposed to sound like; weak and broken.

"Don't try to talk, just rest," repeated the worn voice.

"Co…o…o…o…col-" he stuttered with quaky teeth, his eyes already closing.

"Shhhm s'okay, go ba' to sleep," whispered the voice while replacing the piece of clothing, it felt like a coat, a little tighter over and under his shoulders.

That voice was so soothing; all Barry wanted to do was obey and that's what he did, without further due, sinking back into unconsciousness.

The notion of time got lost as Barry's mind and level of awakening kept on drifting on and off and on and off again in this unending cycle. At some point, the young CSI lost all senses of reality; was he dreaming? Was that burning sensation real? Was he a prisoner in some small and weird blue cell? Was he sleeping on a comfortable bed? Was he running on a wall and throwing a lightning bolt? Was he trying to kill innocents? Was he dying, alone and freezing? At one time, they felt all real, while, in the next moment, they were all dreams, or maybe more like nightmares for some.

Who turned up the heat? He felt like he was on fire, on more like running into a fire. Yeah, what a stupid idea, why would anyone run into a burning building? That thought had him chuckling. Was that the real world? What about that woman with the golden braid that he kept on seeing and hearing?

No matter which reality was real, all the speedster could hope for was that the one he was going to wake up and stay in was the one where breathing wasn't a struggle.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"S'cold," weakly mumbled Barry, battling the hands assaulting his face.

That was a solid A for the effort, but, the result? In his state, Barry proved unable to reach his goal as only the hand on his cheek moved away while the other one stayed undisturbed and kept on pressing the wet washcloth on his forehead.

"Only feel cold because you still have a fever," muttered the voice in answer.

"M'fine," protested Barry, moving his head to his side in a desperate attempt to get away from the uncomfortable feeling.

Silence followed as his interlocutor realized the man she was treating wasn't talking to himself or responding to some hallucination anymore.

"Are you back with me? You had me worried for a moment there," the relief was evident in each of her words.

Cracking his green feverish eyes open, Barry blankly stared at the white whirling ceiling above his head and blinked a few times to clear his vision. It definitely wasn't a cave or a snowstorm anymore; he was back inside a real residence. Unless he was in a hospital? No, it wasn't. While his back was resting on a comfortable and soft mattress, it didn't smell like antiseptic and there was no beeping inside the room.

"Henry?" inquired the woman once more after her question went unanswered. Maybe she was wrong, and he wasn't completely back just yet.

After a few tries and shifting around, Barry's unfocused gaze finally found the young woman and met her clean green eyes. She looked so young and innocent and yet so serious and focused at the same time.

"Who's Henry?" He rasped with the little strength he still had left, looking straight at the young woman's eyes.

"Who's…but…that's-" clearly, she was taken back by the question, "it's you. Henry. Do you recognize me? Olivia?" she tried, disconcerted.

"Ol….li…via," he parroted, rolling the name on his tongues. The syllables sounded vaguely familiar, but at the same time he wasn't able to make the connection, "I don't…where am I? Who are you? Who am I?" He started rambling faster and faster, his eyes rolling in their sockets and his heartbeat pumping faster by the second, only matched by his increasing breathing pattern.

The clearly panicking man just needed one thing; get out, get away. Where? He had no idea, but the clearer his thoughts, the stronger his panic was growing as the realization he had no memories of his life hit him like a runaway train. For all he knew, that Olivia could be the reason behind all of his troubles. Desperate to get away, he violently threw his head in the opposite direction, freeing it from the washcloth and from the delicate hand holding it in place. He struggled with all the little strength he had left to get seated by pushing his palms on the sheet and sending Olivia in complete disarray.

"I need you to calm down, I'm your friend," she tried, her hands in the air in a sign of good faith. What else was she supposed to say or do?

"Nop', you're not my friend, I don't know you, I don-ARG!" He suddenly screamed in sudden pain, pressing both of his hands on the bed's covers, right over his chest, and falling back to where he started.

"In and out, Henry, in and out," said Olivia, rushing back to help by gently massaging his arm and replacing the sheet up to cover his chest, only leaving the man's head and arms out in the open, "we met at Rocamadour, almost 3 days ago, remember?"

3 days ago? He couldn't remember his own name, how was he supposed to remember what he did three days ago?

"I found you in the snow, wounded. You barely escaped from a cave collapsing on you and I took you here to save your life. I am your friend and I do mean you no harm."

"Wh't happened to me? Why can't I remember?"

"I...I don't know why you forgot your life," admitted Olivia, stuttering.

It wasn't right. Sliding one arm under the fluffy cover, Barry's hand made contact with the bandage on his chest and he frowned.

"What's wrong with me?" He asked, eyes glassy with pain.

"You...you took...hmm," whatever explanation she had been preparing for the last couple of days surely wasn't adapted to this new development, "some falling debris entered your skin and while you didn't perforate your organs, you still came up with a bad infection and fever. You've been in and out for almost 2 and a half days now," she finally let out.

Nothing perforated? Fever and infection? Barry sure remembered feeling like he was dying in the snow when Olivia arrived... but, if his injuries were serious, she wouldn't have been able to nurse him back to health on her own without intensive medical treatments. He might not remember who his friends were or where his home was, but at the moment he was too drained to do anything other than relying on his new friend.

"Don't worry-" she continued, "you fever is finally coming down and you should be out of the wood soon. Just, rest, I'll be there when you wake up," she assured, "you're safe."

Now that that world wasn't drunkenly whirling in front of his eyes and that everything was clear, Barry took the time to examine his surroundings and what he was resting on; he had been sleeping on a luxurious looking queen size bed with purple flannel sheet and big, fluffy pillows under his head. The bedroom wasn't that big, but it counted one imposing and carved wooden drawers and a wardrobe with glass door. Was that Olivia's house? Or, was he in his own house? Was he home or far away from it? So many questions that would need to wait as a scratching sensation was spreading in his sore throat after talking for the first-time in... forever.

After trying and failing to clear his throat a couple of time, a glass of clear water magically appeared right in front of his face and a delicate, but strong, hand went behind his back to slowly support him back into a half-seated position, just enough to drink.

"Thanks," he rasped after a few sips.

"You're welcome," grinned Olivia, helping him to lay back down, aware that her patient had lapsed back into unconsciousness before his head even hit the pillows.

She had no idea what she was thinking when she sent him in the cave's directions or when she decided to save his life, but she had been hoping that chapter of her life would be over in a matter of days. What now? She couldn't just throw him back into the world in his condition. No, she wasn't going to do that…at least not while the choice was still in her hands.

"You need to get better fast, for both of our sakes," she whispered to the sleeping form.


	2. Headaches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry wakes up in Europe and get a chat with Olivia, the woman who saved his life

The wounded man had been screaming and thrashing in the bed for the last two minutes, give or take. His actions left him completely wrapped in his sheet and drenched in sweat.

 _"Don't do it! Take me instead! Matt!"_  He screeched with his now hoarse voice, completely deaf to the repeated calls calling his name over and over again.

"You're dreaming! Wake up, Henry!" Repeated Olivia, louder and louder as she was on the soft bed and leaning over her patient.

Clearly, shaking the man's shoulders, no matter how hard, wasn't getting the job done. It was time to step up her game. Backing her arm off, she took a momentum and threw her hand forward, succeeding in slapping the wounded man straight on his right cheek. That did the trick as the man swiftly opened his eyes, gasping for air as he scanned his surroundings.

"Henry? It's okay, you're safe," she gently tried, sitting on her heels and next to her new friend, "you're back with me?"

"My…head," he grumbled, sitting up with the help of his friend as he was strongly massaging his forehead.

"Take these," she offered, crawling on the Queen Size bed, all the way to the night table to grab a couple of aspirins before handing them to the speedster with the glass of water that had been sitting there for hours, waiting his awakening.

It wasn't the first headache her new friend had gotten in the last two days, recuperating from his injuries, and it didn't look like it was going to be the last.

"What were you dreaming about? It didn't sound too good," she softly asked, keeping her voice as low as possible so she wouldn't aggravate his pain.

"Not sure," he replied genuinely, taking the pills, and thanking Olivia with a subtle nod, "it was weird…I only remember flashes of some sort of prison."

"Maybe we should get you checked out at the hospital if your head isn't getting better. And that says a lot coming from me," she said as her eyebrows furrowed with worry.

The statement had Barry frowning as a thought hit his mind, something that he should've asked earlier, "Why haven't you already? Why didn't you take me to the hospital right away when you find me?"

The young woman laughed nervously and pulled her blonde braid over her right shoulder. "come now, I'm almost offended," she joked, chuckling as she was cleverly dodging the question, "I thought I did a pretty good job taking care of you so far, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah, but still," it wasn't really an answer, wasn't it?

"Your wounds weren't that bad Henry," she finally answered, her smile disappearing and seriously looking at the man, "plus, I used to be a nurse before I was… before I moved to Europe."

 _'Your wounds weren't that bad, Henry'_ , that one simple sentence had Barry's Spidery senses tingling.

When he first woke up, she clearly told him that whatever it was that injured him didn't perforated any organs. So, how did she know that without any medical equipment, nurse or not? The fact that he indeed got better, and was still mostly improving, without any hospital help in a matter of days probably meant she was right about that prognosis. But, still…it didn't take away the question of how. Unless she just took a huge chance with his life. But, why? Why would anyone just grab a wounded stranger off the street and take him home?

Considering the fact that she had succeeded in saving his life and that his head was still killing him at the moment, he decided against asking more questions. For now, at least.

"Look-" Olivia started, uncomfortably passing her hand in her hairs and playing with a loose lock, pushing it behind her ear, "-I tried looking up online a little, but I can't seem to find any missing report concerning you. I really wish I could send you home to your friends and family."

"Maybe there is nobody." sadly replied Barry, maybe nobody was missing him. But, he added with a bittersweet smile, "At least, I have you by my side, so that's not so bad."

As far as he knew, maybe he didn't have anything or anyone to come back to. And, so far, Olivia had been a great host.

"True," she replied, still playing with her hair.

She was so young, she couldn't be more than 20 years old. So, what was she doing all alone in this country taking care of some injured and amnesiac stranger? She shouldn't have all these responsibilities falling on her.

"I just really wish I could help you, you know."

As she took her hand out of her smooth blonde hair to anxiously scratch her neck, her actions contradicting the relaxed and confident attitude her features were trying to sell, some other detail stole Barry's attention.

"What happened to your hand?"

"My…? Oh, that," exclaimed Olivia, who, at first, had put her wrong hand in front of her eyes before realizing her new friend was talking about the other one, the one with a makeshift white bandage covering most of her palm and the back of that hand, "that's nothing. I was thinking about too much stuff while cooking and that happened."

Barry frowned, but chose not to make a comment about the stained part of the bandage in her palm, it looked like a lot of blood for nothing.

"Just try to rest, once you're better I'll find a way to send you home, I promise."

"Thanks," said Barry, his body relaxing. Why would a stranger welcome him inside her home, nurse him back to health and make promises like that? He had no idea, but the only thing that truly matters that he was lucky enough to have stumbled into her.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

Later that day, the sound of a chair being knocked down and something heavy falling next to it woke Olivia up, shaking and on high alert. Quickly spotting the source of the cacophony, she pushed aside the blue flannel sheet off her body and rushed off the sofa and toward the kitchen where she Barry, knees on the ground and painting.

"Henry?"

"Didn't mean to wake you up, I'm sorry," apologized Barry, looking down on the floor and avoiding eye contact. For some reason, this situation had Olivia smiling; despite his not-so-great situation, the young man's first concern was oriented the person he just woke up. That was quite nice of him, in a way, "how's the hand?" He finally asked, looking up.

"It's good as new," she assured, the smile still on her lips.

To prove her point, she took off the white, and partly red, bandage to reveal her pale hand and turn it around, "see?"

Yup, not a single trace of injury, nor even scar tissue. Good as new, just like she said. Must not have been too bad of a wound if it healed that fast.

"What were you trying to do, anyway?" Inquired the young woman.

"I just woke up with the worst headache and there wasn't any aspirin left on the night table. Plus, you weren't there," he admitted, hating how weak he sounded and how dependent he was on Olivia, "why were you sleeping on the sofa?" He added, needing to change the subject.

Olivia chuckled, amused by the situation, "says the guy kneeling on the floor."

"Hey, I didn't do it purpose," protested Barry, trying to stay serious but barely able to stop the corner of his mouth to switch into a smile.

"Come on, big boy, I'll help you," she said, smiling fondly, as she moved closer to the down speedster and took him by under his shoulders. Slowly, but firmly, she helped him up on his feet.

The other man was definitely shaking and unsteady on his legs, but he wasn't letting his new friend take all his weight, strongly fighting off the weight of gravity. Hard to tell if he was doing it because of pride or because he was simply getting stronger by the minute. Changing position and passing Barry's arm over her shoulders, Olivia slowly guided him to the sofa and sit him on it.

"That's a cosy sofa you have there," he commented lazily, causing Olivia to chuckle once more.

"See?" She winked, "it's not that bad, isn't it? Don't worry about me, I'm quite good on it."

It wasn't really a lie, she really was sleeping quite nicely on that furniture. After all, she got used to way, way worse in the last couple of years. A sofa was a nice luxury for her at that point, so she wasn't going to complain about leaving the bed to her injured new companion. Moving away from the man, she got up again and went directly to the kitchen cabinet, over the sink, to take out the medicine.

"There you go," she said while handing the pills to Barry, "you look better, are you really?"

"I am," he answered, taking the pills but still pressing his hand's palm against his forehead, which caused the woman to frown her eyebrows in concern, "just wish the headaches would go away."

"You still don't remember anything about who you are or where your home is?"

It was Barry's turn to chuckle, "if I didn't know any better I would say that you're in a hurry to get me out of your house."

Olivia's body tensed for half a second, until she quickly realized her friend was just joking, so she relaxed and laughed softly, "hey, well, what can I say? I do like it when someone doesn't try to steal all my food while I'm sleeping."

"Wasn't stealing food… yet! I'm offended that you think that I would," Barry half-protested, half-teased.

"Hum hum…. you hungry?" Olive guessed.

The poor guy was probably starving considering it's been days since he had his last full meal. Now that Olivia was thinking about it, Barry had spent most of his last days sleeping on and off, barely staying awake for a couple of moments at the time, which meant little time to really eat.

"I guess I am," admitted Barry.

The slim blonde got back up, smiling from ear to ear for seemingly no reason. There was something about this stranger…something that made her feel…comfortable and even happy. Not just happy, safe. Which was weird considering how he's been depending on her to stay alive, not the other way around. But, still, she couldn't help how she was feeling and even less explain it.

Maybe it was just because of the way she's been living; it's not like anyone really cared whether she lived or not or cared about her emotional state. During the last couple of years, her mind somehow managed to push aside who she used to be and even pretend she wasn't so alone. Her brain succeeded in creating a world in which she believed for a while that she didn't need anyone to talk to.

"Alright, don't move," she said, swiftly turning around so that Henry wouldn't see the emotions in her broken eyes, "once we're done eating, we could play Tic Tac Toe or something."

Tic Tac Toe?

_"Really?" Rasped Barry's voice inside his head, "Tic Tac Toe again?"_

_"We haven't played it in like… 3 days," a strong man's voice retorted jokingly._

"Henry? You back with me?" The man almost jumped out of his skin when he spotted a pair of concerned eyes barely inches in front of his face while two hands were shaking his shoulders. When in the hell did she get so close?

"What happened?" He asked, gasping for air like a drowning man finally reaching the surface.

"You tell me; you kind of went unresponsive on me for a moment there. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah…. just got some sort of dream or maybe flashback, I don't know."

Olivia carefully studied his features, trying to figure out if he was okay, or if he was just saying that for her. Deciding it was safe to let him alone on the sofa, she started heading back to the kitchen to prepare a nice meal, the first mostly solid food her patient was going to have since being rescued in the snow.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"Joe, you need to stop pacing, you're making me dizzy."

The detective had been walking the whole length of the cortex again and again… and again, non-stop for what felt like forever in front of the two scientists sitting behind the computers who kept on glancing at him from time to time.

"We're worried too," assured Caitlin, "but there's nothing we can do about it. Barry will contact us once it's done and he's ready to come back."

"We shouldn't have let him go on his own like that. Something bad happened, I know it. I can feel it," Joe replied worriedly, stopping in his movement to look at Barry's best friends.

"We didn't let him do anything," reminded Cisco, "we could either watch him leave alone, or blink while he's running away, Barry made himself pretty clear about that. He really needed to do this, and do this alone."

Joe sighed and moved a couple of steps back, loudly sighing, "I know… I just have a very, very bad feeling in my guts, a feeling I didn't have in the longest time. I do feel like something happened to Barry. We need to do something, we need to go find him."

"Even if we wanted to, Europe is a big place. We could search forever," pointed out Cisco.

"You could-" started Joe, his eyes brightening up with a sudden idea on how to find his missing son.

"I tried vibing him," answered Cisco, seeing ahead the suggestion that was coming, "plus, it hasn't been two weeks yet. Barry said he was going to come back within one week or two, or contact us if he was in trouble."

"It's not like he contacted us when he first got kidnapped by Hyde," Joe argued back, grumbling.

The man had a point, no doubt, but what should they do? More like, what could they do? It had barely been a full week and while Cisco was more worried that he wanted the others to know, he had no clue what he was supposed to do or where he was supposed to start his search.

"Look, Joe-" Cisco answered, "-I've already hacked into part of the airport database, if the name Henry West pops up, we'll know in an instant."

The older man looked only barely reassured by this and looked like he was about to make a comment when Caitlin decided to join the conversation with a suggestion and turned toward her friend typing on the keyboard.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to do some research into seeing if anything unusual show up in France."

Cisco nodded, "it's a long shot, but I'll try to see what I can't find."

 _Please man, be ok_ , silently begged the engineer. He would never forgive himself if something had indeed happened to his best friend because he hadn't insisted enough to accompany in his quest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave a comment, always appreciated
> 
> The flashback was taken directly from Chapter 11 of Wounds of the Spirit called ''Tic Tac Toe'' when Barry and Matt were playing together in their cage.


	3. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new threat start rising up in Central City while Barry is recovering slowly in Europe

It was with her elbows on the wooden kitchen table and her face in her palms that Olivia ended up being deeply lost in her thoughts. What was she doing? Why did she give the information to Henry? Why did she come back and save his life? What had she done with her life? Sure, everything wasn't perfect, but… all right, truth be told, it wasn't anywhere close to perfect, in fact, her existence was miserable, and it had been this way since she ended up in the system, but she was staying alive. She had a roof, sort of, over her head and had been provided with food. Not much to go on, but enough to stay alive, which was more than some other people were having in the world. Just that had been enough for her for sometimes. What now? Now she just put all of that in peril just because some ghost from her past came back to hunt her and, just for a second, she thought that person was going to fix all her problems.

Except, that wasn't the case. If anything, everything started spinning out of control the instant she decided to speak to Henry at Rocamadour. When Henry first managed to gather the strength to get up and walk out of the room, for an instant, the young woman let her brain drifted off into a dream where this lie could be her life. She was too old to dream; it wasn't real, it wasn't her life and it was never going to be. Now, she needed to find a way to explain what happened out there in the cave and hope for the best.

Getting back what she put in jeopardy because of her stupidity was her only thought. How could it not be a priority? The man in the bedroom had been acting quite nicely so far, but she knew better. She had seen it many times before. As soon as he will start to feel better, he'll get out of the front door and leave her behind. There was no doubt in the woman's mind that he was going to leave her in his past like everyone else and pretty quickly forget her. Why would he care? It's not like she was worth anything to anyone. Sure, he seemed like a pretty decent person and hanging out with him had been a great pause in her hell, but it wasn't going to last.

Taking one hand off her face, the blonde unconsciously pushed all her untied hair over her left shoulder and started braiding them out of reflexes. What were her options? Could she blame everything that unfolded on Henry? Maybe. It might well be her only viable option. Best case scenario, he would be long gone before a choice like that would need to be made. Worst case, well, it was his life or hers and everyone needed to survive.

"Hey. Good morning," greeted Henry's voice from behind her.

Turning around, the young woman ended up face to face with a warming smile, "hey yourself! You look a lot better today."

"Well, I sure am. Your healing skills wouldn't be too good if I wasn't, right?"

Olivia giggled at that, "guess you're right."

What was it with that man? The room and the ambiance just got lighten up just by his presence and she found her stomach attacked by a pit of guilt forming inside for thinking, just seconds earlier, about throwing him under the bus to save herself.

"About that-" Barry replied a bit more seriously, "I've been meaning to ask you about what you told me yesterday when you said you were a nurse before you moved here. Don't take it the wrong way, but you look pretty young; since when have you moved to Europe?"

That man was amnesiac and wounded, but he obviously wasn't stupid. She would need to be convincing if she wanted to get away with lying, but it wasn't impossible to go down that path. After all, it's not like anyone had never looked much younger than they really were. Except, her instincts were telling her that it wouldn't pass, not to mention she felt this weird urge to not add another lie to the pile. She shrugged before answering:

"Truth is, I wasn't really a full nurse. I've actually been helping my mother since I was little in her private medical clinic and I truly learned a lot from her. I was finishing High School and had been accepted into Medical School, but I never attended the classes."

Barry frowned, definitely intrigued by the seemingly honest, yet vague and incomplete answer: "Why? You seem like smart and capable enough."

Lowering her head, the blonde woman scrubbed her face with her left hand. Stopping the motion, she put both her arms on the table and carefully examined her perfectly clean hands with a strange expression on her face, "let just say that things didn't go down as planned. Something big, something bad happened in my hometown three years ago and I had to put my life on hold because of that."

Sniffing, the woman harshly repressed all her negative emotions that were threatening to rise up again.

"I'm sorry," said Barry, closing in, unsure how to comfort her.

"Don't worry about it," she assured, grabbing a hold of herself and on her emotions, "it's been a long time and I've moved to France sometime after that. Some people needed my skills here," she vaguely answered, and it wasn't a lie, unless you counted a lie by omission in that list, "considering that we met because of that, I can't say it has been completely bad," she smiled.

Barry thought about it for a moment, confused. Was she implying that they met because of the job she was doing here? Or she simply meant that they stumbled upon each other thanks to her moving to this continent?

Deciding it was the second option, he just shook his head and continued, "I don't remember us meeting, I'm sorry."

"Look-" he added after a quick pause, "I really, really do, appreciate everything you have done for me, but since last time you dodge the question, I still need an answer. Why? Why take me to your home?"

Nervously scratching the back of her neck, Olivia seriously thought about her answer, taking her time before answering it the best way possible, "look, Henry, I know you have a lot of questions and you seem like a great person, but things just are complicated. There are just things I can't really explain to you."

If she wasn't acting suspiciously before, that seals the deal. Except, despite his absence of recollection about his past life, Barry still had his instincts and he couldn't shake them as they were telling him the woman was a good person.

"I don't mean to pry," he awkwardly started, "but if you're in any sort of trouble, I want to help you. I want to repay the debt I have towards you."

"Do you trust me?" No matter how many emotions seemed to be fighting in her eyes, her voice still was steady and strong.

"Yeah, I do. With my life. Would be foolish to say otherwise," he responded without missing a beat, a confidence and certainty in his tone that made Olivia's own heartache; who was she to deserve such a blind trust? She was a nobody and she surely wasn't a pure and good as Henry seemed to believe. If only there was a way out of this mess, a way for both of them… but there just wasn't.

The girl took a quick look at the calendar behind Henry's back, February 4th. It was going to go down soon enough.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"Good morning, captain," greeted Joe as he walked out of his car at the Central City's plaza, the location hosting the city's annual Winter Festival that just started yesterday, "what do we have here?"

"We might have a weird one on our hands," Singh replied, looking away from the rest of his people investigating to stare at his detective who just arrived.

 _When don't we?_  Thought Joe.

"Weird enough for you to leave the station and to absolutely need my help?" Inquired Joe, taking his sunglasses off and looking at the people moving around a corpse on the ground about a hundred feet away or so, "I'm kind of in the middle of a family situation at the moment."

"About that…" the police Captain looked around once to make sure nobody was close enough to listen, "I don't want to pry, but how's Barry? I know he's probably been through a lot of trauma during these missing months, but it's been almost 4 months since he's been found. There a lot of people at the station wondering if he'll be back soon."

Captain Singh could bark very loudly and was not known for being the softest at the station, but anyone who knew him well enough was aware of how much he valued the life of everyone working under his command, especially this young and smart CSI who was in a coma not that long ago. The hint of worry wasn't that hard to notice.

Joe's jaw tensed up, "he's…trying to deal."

"Has he been seeking out help?" Asked Singh, before quickly continuing, "I know it's none of my business, I'm not forcing you to answer if you don't want to."

 _Yeah, he travelled on his own to Europe and he's presently M.I.A., at best. Maybe worse_ , was the answer that came to Joe's mind, but it probably wasn't the one.

"He's trying," Joe said awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable about having that chat with his boss to whom he couldn't really share anything really specific.

"If there's anything I can do-"

"I'll let you know. Now, what do we have here?" He repeated his earlier question, needed to change the subject.

The Captain sighed but moved on to the next subject as requested once he saw that Joe wasn't going to say anything more.

"Apparently, we have 2 victims who drowned last night," introduced Singh, back in full business mode and leading the way toward the first gathering of police personnel at the entry of an alley next to the festival's main site, "the first victim has been identified as Nate Broz, one of the Mayor's adviser, who was there yesterday to kick off the celebrations."

Broz? Well, that was going to get a lot of ink running in the papers once the news of his death will become public, no wonder the Captain himself had been called to the scene, just like Joe had. They needed to get this situation deal with as soon as possible. But, death by drowning? Geography had never been Joe's best subject, but he knew the city well enough to know the river wasn't anywhere near their current location.

"How? Are we sure that he drowned? Even if he did, what makes us think it's a homicide?"

There were a lot of easier means to kill somebody than to drown that person in a festival with no water nearby, unless it was to send some kind of message.

"Well, that's the first theory the CSI came up with, but I'll let you take a look at it for yourself."

Walking past the captain, Joe finally laid his eyes out of the first victim; the body of the dead man was who laying down in the snow with frost all over the pale face and the lips had a bluish coloration. The middle-aged man's cheeks were partly coloured by a mix of blue, red, and black like he had been submerged and dead in the water for sometimes. The only other external sign that he had been in contact with water, instead of freezing to death in the alley, was his mostly humid dark brown coat.

"We're sure he was here last night?"

Another officer who was kneeling next to the body, turned around to answer the question, "the last person who reported seeing him so far was about 10:30 pm last night."

It was still early in the morning, little past 7, so there was a little more than 8 hours for which the man had been unaccounted for.

"Had he been dragged here from the river?" Asked Joe, still trying to make any kind of sense of all of this.

The 27 years old CSI woman currently replacing Barry in his lab, Emily, suddenly appeared on Joe's right side. The newly graduated woman had her long dark brown, almost black, hairs tied in a ponytail and was standing 2 inches short of being 6 feet tall.

"There are traces that the body had been dragged into the alley, but I can't say for sure just yet if he did or didn't die close by. The second victim had been moved to, on the main stage, somewhere during the night and is showing all the same physical damages. I'll need to do some analyses first."

"Do we have a name on our second victim?" Asked Joe.

"It's Katherine Claw," calmly stated Emily.

Oh damn, the oldest member of the Claw family, one of the oldest and most influential families in Central City. So that would make two very influential people murdered in the same night by apparently the same person… if only Barry could come back to town and be on the job to help solve this.

"Are we dealing with a Meta?" Inquired Joe, stating the obvious. When weren't they dealing with Metas these days?

The young CSI sighed deeply, "I can't be 100% yet but… it's highly possible."

"Of course it is," grumbled Joe; yeah, Barry definitely needed to come back and fast. That's if he was doing ok and if he wasn't… just the thought of possibly losing him again, without anywhere to look had him sick to the stomach.

Hopefully the police wouldn't need the Flash's help on the case…

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

There were so many faces looking at him with mixed emotions; there was doubt, determination and fear in these people's features as Barry was looking at them through a glass door.

_'You will pay for this! I will kill all of you.'_

The voice that said these words, words filled with so much hate and so much disdain sounded exactly like his own and Barry could feel the hatred burning in every fibre of his body. Except, why did these feelings feel so wrong? His glance fell on a young woman, probably in her mid-20, with refined features, long brown curly hairs, and brown eyes, before saying:

_'You… You'll be the first, I'll kill you the second I'm out!'_

There was no denying the pure terror in her eyes, the same expression also clearly apparent in the face of the shortest person next to her, an innocent looking man with darker skin. Barry knew that man, for some reason he was sure of it…except, the same hate was floating toward him too.

 _'...then, you're next!'_  Added his own voice.

The whole scenery quickly turned into a blur, disappearing into darkness, and shifting into a similar setting, but with a different audience. Once again, the man found himself trapped in some sort of blue cage with the glass door, but the only person standing in front of him now was that Latino looking man.

 _'We were never friends',_  growled Barry's voice at the other man like a mad animal.

The next instant, Barry suddenly woke up, gasping for air. Oh God, he was a criminal, possibly a murderer. Technically, it was a dream. But, for some reasons, deep down inside, Barry just knew that it was more than that. It was with complete certainty that he knew it; what he saw were memories, flashbacks, of his past life.

What if Olivia was to learn about it? She probably wouldn't help him anymore. Was he going to hurt her too, eventually? Maybe he was supposed to run away before he was going to hurt her, or worse…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment and raise your hand if you think Olivia is going to betray Barry


	4. I'm a criminal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new meta in Central City is making some trouble for Team Flash while Barry is starting to fear who he might be

"Still nothing?" Inquired Caitlin, anxiously waiting on the cortex's chair for what felt like forever, glancing from time to time at the red suit on her right as Cisco was deeply into his vibes.

The usual beeping sound made itself heard as the engineer took his goggles off, putting them, and the Flash's emblem, down on the main computer's desk before answering to Caitlin who was holding her breath in anticipation.

"He's alive," he stated, drained, but undoubtedly relieved.

"Thank God," breathed out Caitlin, closing her eyes, relieved of that doubt that had been weighing heavily on her shoulders. It wasn't answering all the questions, nor it was suppressing all the worry, but it was a great start, "where is he? Is he ok, is he...?"

Maybe they should've waited for Joe to come back before trying to vibe their friend, but they didn't want to raise the man's hopes up before they had something concrete.

"That's where it gets complicated…I can barely feel him anymore," answered Cisco, passing his hand through his messy hair, "all I get are feedbacks, feelings… energy."

Caitlin frowned, "I don't get it. You saw him or not?"

"It's hard to explain. I haven't really seemed him, not exactly. What I saw was mostly darkness surrounding me, but I could feel his presence, I could feel that he's alive."

"Okay…" answered Caitlin, approaching her friend while nervously playing with her fingers. Her silence was a clear invitation to Cisco to keep on going.

"He's distressed and-" he rose his hand to interrupt the doctor as she was about to add something, "I'm not sure if he's hurt, but I could feel him, I don't know, lost? He was terrified and disturbed by something, I just wish I knew what that was."

"But, he's alive," repeated the brunette, hanging on to that only good news they've had for the day.

"Yeah, he is. I'll just keep on trying. To be honest, I don't think it's helping that Barry is not as attached to the suit as he used to be. You know, before getting captured last year by Hyde."

Probably true. All right, so Barry was scared, distressed, and alive. That was a good start. Now, they just needed a location now.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

_It makes sense_ , thought Barry, reflecting over the dreams, memories, that were coming back, especially that last one where he threatened to murder these two people. Who were they? Their faces were so familiar, and Barry couldn't help but feel like he should know their name. At the moment, the young man just couldn't care less about his cold soup left untouched in front of him despite his growling stomach.

Since Olivia had left the house earlier, the only thing he had been doing was to try harder and harder to recover his memories, but the identity of the young people in his dreams kept on eluding him.

No wonder Olivia didn't find a single missing report concerning him, there probably wasn't a single soul looking for him since he was a murderer. Or, at the very least, he had sworn to kill these two peoples. Maybe, after taking care of these two, he just ran to Europe to stay away from the cops. So, he was Henry the Killer? His thesis sounded plausible, but, deep down, it didn't sound right. But, hey, what would he know about who he was really considering he couldn't remember a thing. Well, most of it. How much more damage has he done? The only kind of person looking for him outside probably were the cops.

"I'm a criminal," he rasped, trying to see how it would actually sound in his mouth and roll on his tongue; it just left a bad aftertaste in his throat.

Maybe his situation was a blessing, maybe he could, and even should, leave his past behind. Maybe he should just leave Olivia's house and start his new life somewhere in Europe while hoping his old memories would never come back. First thing first would be to find a job, which could be hard considering he didn't have a single clue about what his skills were or since he didn't have any references… if in his old life, he somehow sunk into a criminal life, chances were that he didn't have the skills for a stable job. Was he trying to steal anything or hurt innocent people when the cave collapsed on him? Was he worth being saved? Probably not…

What now?

Where was Olivia anyway? Everything was normal this morning 'til she received a text that instantly made her cheeks lose all of their colours and made her babble some excuses before running out. That was many hours ago. She might be a big girl, a resourceful one, but it didn't stop Barry from worrying. Hopefully, she didn't put herself in trouble, or not in too much of it…

All right, so that's what he was going to do; he was going to wait for her return to make sure she was ok, then he would sneak away in the middle of the night in search for a new life on his own.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

When she heard Henry's voice in Rocamadour, a couple of days ago, she just knew she heard it before, but it wasn't until she deliberately put herself in the man's path and let herself get pushed to the ground that she realized who he was. The instant her eyes met his and that she got the chance to look at his features, she knew it was the same young man she had been tasked to keep alive many, many months ago. She had no idea what he was doing back in France or why he was looking for the place that brought him so much unspeakable pain, but she was just glad he was back. She was happy to see him alive and ok. For one instant, in the heat of the moment, she naively thought he was going to fix everything and take her home like a knight on his white horse, except, like always, she was wrong.

Obviously, he had no idea who she was, not that she could blame him considering how fragile and weak he was back the first time he was in France, not to mention he usually was barely conscious when she could enter the room he was being kept in. And that was when he wasn't walking the thin line between life and death after a session with the monsters in charge that would torture him over and over again. Henry was so young and so innocent, what had he done to deserve such harsh and inhumane treatments? It was the question she had been asking herself every day, but that she never dared to ask, choosing to only do the job that was asked of her and not stick her neck out.

The truth is, the day she learned he was gone, she figured he was probably dead. She surely didn't expect to ever meet him again. Now that she had, she almost wished she hadn't. Earlier that day, she received a message from her boss saying he was coming back to the cave with a new victim. More like, the cellphone she stole from the body of one of her crushed superior that was half buried not too far from the cave entry received that message. Good thing he was so close to the exit and wasn't buried under too much debris.

When Olivia left the house earlier, it was with every intention to sell out her new companion to her boss and let him take the blame for everything that happened in order to survive. Except, with every new step she was taking in her walk from the car to the fallen cave, her stomach was rebelling a little more and the guilt was just getting heavier and heavier. There just was something special about Henry, something that was making her second-guess her decision a little more with every passing second. For the past couple of years, all she'd done was let her survival instinct selfishly guide her every action, whether it was stealing food, money, or a car, or turning a blind eye on people's suffering. She needed to survive, who didn't? It was her or them. Her conscience be damned.

As she was approaching the small pond at the flank of the imposing mountain, in the bright light of midday, her whole body came to a sudden stop as her conscience came back with a vengeance. Her moral values were charging with all the energy they had been accumulating during the last couple of years and took control of her all of her muscles. No, no more of this. No more taking the easy way out. No putting all of the blame on Henry for everything that happened, she couldn't do it. Not anymore. She couldn't flee, and she couldn't keep on pushing the rest of the world under the bus to save her own skin. For many, many minutes, she just stood there frozen, physically, and mentally, shivering under the cold February breeze.

From the looks of it, she was the first one to arrive on the site. So, no witness in sight; there was still time to turn around and run as fast and as far as she possibly could from this place. She could just run, grab her new companion, and disappear with him to a place where they wouldn't find them. Did such a place even exist? By the sound of it, these people had ears and eyes everywhere, unless it only was what they wanted her to think so she wouldn't try to escape. The question being: was she willing to take that chance? If she was on her own with only her life at stake, she would run right away, except she wasn't alone. It wasn't going to be easy to look out for herself while taking care of a wounded, amnesiac and defenceless man.

That was it. It was decided; she was going to stand her ground and hope for the best. Hopefully, the men that were about to arrive would never know what really transpired.

 _The things you're making me do, Henry. I sure hope I know what I'm doing_ , she thought to herself before she started walking again, going straight back to the location where she found and saved Henry a couple of days ago.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"There you guys are. Tell me you have something," Joe's voice came through as the detective entered Cisco's lab without wasting any time on greeting the two scientists.

"Hello to you too, how is work?" Cisco greeted sarcastically, eyes rolling.

Joe sighed and rubbed his forehead while speaking, "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about Barry and now, I have a big case, possibly Meta, on my hands."

"What kind of case?" Asked Caitlin, frowning curiously, interested.

It's not because Barry was still missing that they needed to stop helping people. Hell, the man would probably get angry if he was to come back to find out his friends stopped taking care of the city in his absence, especially if he was to come back safe and sound in the time frame he gave before leaving.

It was Joe's turn to squint his eyes, "I thought you guys were supposed to be on the lookout for the news. We couldn't keep this case under wrap and now it's all over the news."

"Yeah, well, we're looking into Europe's newspapers, not Central City's at the moment," Commented Cisco, but still opening a new tab in his web navigator to go take a look at the online site of CC Pictures News.

_Adviser Broz and Katherine Claw found death at the Winter Festival_

"And we think it's a Meta?" Inquired Caitlin, staring at the screen and listening with one ear while she was reading the article. Of course, the author of this article was trying to scare the population by reminding everyone that the Flash hadn't been seen in months to protect the citizen.

"Emily, who's replacing Barry at the CSI lab, said that the bodies were found in a state of decay like they had been in the water for at least a day or two... except they were only unaccounted for a couple of hours," explained Joe, absentmindedly, not really in the best mood to talk about a case while still having no idea if his son was ok, "and both their last known location and the one they were found at were far from the river or any other water source."

"Maybe we're dealing with someone with the ability to accelerate decay?" Theorized Caitlin, shrugging, "the bodies might not have been moved, they might not have been in the water at all."

"Maybe... except Emily already confirmed that they did die from drowning."

"That is most definitely weird, indeed. I guess it probably does fall into our department," agreed Cisco, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his chin pensively.

"Then, what are we talking about? A Meta that can... what? A breacher that transports his victims into the water and back?" Tried Caitlin, brainstorming as she was going.

"No," Cisco instantly answered, dismissing it as he turned his chair around so he would face both people in the same room instead of his computer, "that wouldn't explain the state of decay of the bodies."

"As much as I usually enjoy your enthusiasm when you're jumping into a new case, I didn't come here because of this," reminded Joe, his features deep with worry.

"We..."

In mid-sentence, Cisco turned around to look at Caitlin, silently asking for her opinion; should they tell Joe about their findings? They still didn't have a single clue about Barry's whereabouts at the moment or if he was hurt, but they knew he was alive. It was a start.

"He's alive," stated Cisco when he received her nod of approval.

"Oh thank God," mouthed the detective, closing his eyes for a moment, "are you sure?"

"Yes. I tried vibing him and-"

"Where is he?" Interrupted Barry's foster dad, "does he need our help?"

"I... I don't know. I managed to feel him yesterday, but I couldn't see him. Didn't get much more success after that.'' Honestly admitted Cisco, losing the small amount of excitement he gathered by theorizing about that new case. As bad as it sounded, a murder was a nice distraction from worrying about what could be happening on another continent.

"Have you tried again today"' Inquired Joe, not ready to give up.

Joe's eyes instantly spotted the hero's goggles laying on the other desk not that far away from the group.

"This morning, but I can try again," agreed Cisco.

It would be a lie to say that this waiting without any news wasn't driving him crazy, because it was. The engineer just hated to simply wait and see, wait and hope for his best friend to come back to them, but he couldn't spend every minute spying with his powers either.

"Alright, I hope we'll have more luck," he said, before getting up, grabbing his goggles and moving back to his computer.

That was at this moment that Joe noticed the Flash suit's emblem sitting next to Cisco's workstation. He frowned, wondering if the insignia had been sitting there for comfort or for easiest access for vibing, but chose not to ask.

Taking a deep breath and activating his goggles, Cisco put them on, whispering, "be ok, buddy."

The next instants were pure torture for his audience, standing in front of the engineer, as they couldn't do a thing but wait and observe the blank expression on Cisco's face. Was it working? Did he make a connection? Caitlin was biting her bottom lips and playing with the corner of the desk while Joe just stood there frozen and holding his breath, completely hypnotized by the scene.

Their worry increased exponentially when they saw how Cisco's features tensed up suddenly and his right arm suddenly rose, reaching out for an invisible form in front of him that wasn't there. His chest was visibly rising and falling faster and faster by the second.

"BARRY!" He screeched out.

The superhero tore off his goggles out of his face, displaying his horrified eyes for his crowd to see.

"What's wrong?" Inquired Caitlin, on high alert, closing on her friend. Oh God, if Barry was... no. If he was gone, there wouldn't be a psychic connection between the missing hero and the breacher.

"He's... he's..." Puffed out Cisco, his eyes wide open, "he's about to get shot!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mwa mwa mwa mwa ...*cough* I'm sorry , I meant oohh no poor Barry ;)
> 
> Leave a comment


	5. Knock Knock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olivia goes to meet with her boss and tries what she can to save her life...and to protect Barry

The silence fell in the room and a pin drop could've been heard at this instant as everyone just stood in shock. Shot? So much for Barry being safe and on his way back home. Caitlin's doctor mode instantly activated and pushed her into action as Cisco was heavily breathing on his shaking legs. Moving behind her friend, the doctor warmly wrapped her arm around Cisco's shoulders and guided him back to his chair, helping him to sit while he was recuperating from his obviously troubling vision.

"Talk to us, Cisco," she encouraged him, "what did you see? You really saw Barry this time?"

"Shot? As in a gunshot?" Urged Joe, needing a confirmation and staring at his young friend who had both his hands massaging his forehead.

"Yeah… yeah, I saw Barry," he mumbled, "he was in some sort of... house. I don't know. He looked pretty beat up and-" That was an understatement; bruised cheeks, broken lips, bleeding nose and kneeling on the ground... Barry didn't look like he was having the upper hand in that fight, "-he had a gun pointed at him. He looked terrified," finished Cisco, looking up and at his friends, sharing their distressed.

Barry was in trouble, in a lot of it apparently, and there was nothing they could do to help at the moment.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

The sound of crunching footsteps in the snow and a flashlight beam coming her way had Olivia instantly back on high alert, getting back up from her seated position on one of the fallen pieces of the cave ceiling near the entry. There was barely enough place for a person, or two top, to take shelter in the passage as the rest of the path had been blocked by fallen rocks, unless you wanted to crawl and move around the debris.

Getting back in the cold and shivering under the freezing breeze, the young woman zipped her black vest all the way to the top before vigorously rubbing her frozen thighs through her thin jeans, trying to bring back some heat into them. The sun had completely disappeared many hours ago, only leaving the darkness and silence all around. Visibly swallowing, the young woman put her right hand back into her vest pocket to keep the tremors hidden from the approaching group. Her mind was still conflicted, there was still time to change her mind in order to save, or try to save, her own ass.

No, she made her choice.

Four forms emerged from behind the tree line, but the beam blinding the woman forced Olivia to put her forearm before her squinting eyes to try and discern who exactly was coming her way. As the group grew closer, Olivia finally noticed how smaller, thinner and more delicate the fourth person was, probably a woman, and one that was getting brutally dragged toward her position. Another victim, another innocent, who was about to get tortured for some obscure reason, that was if the monsters hadn't already started with that.

When the three strong men arrived at the cave, the one that wasn't hidden anymore under the magical shield, the men harshly shoved their new victim in the snow and it was only at that moment that Olivia finally took notice of how young the person was. That new victim couldn't be older than 16 or 17 years old and it was obvious she had been brutally beaten up considering the bruises all over her face. That and the way one of her eyes was completely closed and mostly hidden between the badly swollen skin in that area. Except, the part that hit Olivia the hardest was just the desolation in that girl's sole opened eye. Olivia felt like someone just kicked her in the stomach at the sight of that teenager with the short and black hairs. For some reason, the misery and pain she was witnessing in that girl reminded her of her younger self, when everything started.

"Ollie!" Greeted the clearly unhappy gruff voice of the shortest man wearing the most expensive looking long and grey coat, "I hope you have an explanation for this."

 _'Stay calm, you can do this. Just do your best bluff',_  Olivia encouraged herself.

"I…I wasn't there when it happened. I don-don-don't know," she badly stuttered, feeling her cheeks getting hotter by the second as a single drop of sweat slowly appeared on her forehead despite the cold temperature.

As she was talking, she closely observed, from the corner of her eyes, the huge, at least 6'4 tall man that wasn't keeping a close eye on the woman on the ground, slowly walking closer to the debris and closer to what was remaining of the cave. Olivia felt a shiver passing down her spine, almost afraid she was about to be attacked from behind, but she kept her unmoved expression and kept most of her attention on her boss who was closely staring at Olivia, like he was deciding whether to believe her story or not.

"Where were you?" He interrogated, his green eyes staring with enough intensity to pierce right into her soul.

"I was getting supplies when it happened," she answered while throwing nervous glances behind her, not being a fan of losing sight of the second man. That was even if, to be honest, she was more preoccupied with the one person standing in front of her.

"Really?" Stretching his legs, the man started walking around the younger woman, forcing her to turn on herself to keep eye contact at all time, "what about my men?"

Olivia shivered again, and it wasn't because of the cold weather; every word being spoken to her were calm, calculated… cold. So cold. They were way calmer than what they should be when being spoken by someone who just came back to his mystical base of operation to find it decimated.

"I don't know, I just arrived here. They're probably buried inside, Sir."

The slim man stopped his walk and stood still in front of the woman, crossing his arms on his chest and staying completely still, in this same position, for the longest time, like a predator waiting for the best moment to jump on his prey.

"Oh… Olivia. You know why I've always liked you, right?" He added with a smooth and comforting voice.

"Because I'v-" Olivia attempted, starting her sentence before even knowing what she was going to say. Luckily, or not, she got interrupted before she could complete whatever she was about to say.

"Because you've always been so smart and you've always known where you place was."

"I don't… understand," she said, fidgeting inside her coat pocket while feeling this strong and growing urge to run. Instinctively, she knew she was about to get cornered. ''I came back from doing errands to find this earlier.'' She tried to justify, mentally hitting herself the second the sentence came out of her words; she just stated that she came back earlier today...but a moment ago, she clearly said that she just arrived, moments ago.

"I have no idea who could've done this... or why. Or even how he, or she, could have managed to pass the secret barrier," she quickly added, desperately trying to cover her screw-up.

The breath she was holding got released when her boss relaxed and uncrossed his arms with a mysterious smile on his lips:

"All right, I believe you."

 _Thank God_ , thought Olivia, closing her eyes and feeling the tension leaving her tensed shoulders.

The man moved away, approaching the fallen cave entrance to carefully examine it for a couple of long and silent seconds. It was with his back turned on the woman that he added:

"I just have one more question for you; how long were your errands?"

Olivia's body stiffened once more, she might not be out of the wood just yet, "I don't...a couple of hours maybe."

"Hmmm..." The slim and rich man turned around and closed on her again, both of his arms behind his back, looking quite thoughtful: "'So, you were here yesterday, weren't you?"

Olivia nodded, but not without a quick hesitation.

"Then, how come you didn't notice this little problem of our when you were here yesterday?"

Yes...yeste...yesterday? Did her boss arrive yesterday and found out everything? That wasn't good.

 _Think fast, Olivia, think fast_ , she encouraged herself, her mind going into overdrive.

"I don't..." she stopped, at a complete loss for words. Of course, she had hours to think of something smart she would say, but she didn't come up with any sort of backup plan in case of something like that.

Seeing the woman wasn't going to say something, the man continued, "you can imagine my surprise when I tracked my men's phones, only to find out that Alec's phone was somehow still in his home and that he didn't inform me of any sort of attack."

Oh uh… Olivia clearly didn't think they could or would track the phones of the people working for him; it was really starting to get pretty hot.

"Guess he forgot it there," She said, biting her cheeks to keep her voice from shaking as fear was spreading in all her limbs. What else could she say? "What do you want from me?"

"Oh, he forgot it there. What an idiot of me to not have thought about that," he bit back, slightly hitting his forehead with the bottom part of his right hand's palm, "I guess that would also explain why it's right here, right now."

The last words had the effect of a cold shower. The woman clenched her teeth together and forced herself not to look behind for a way of escape as running away would only solidify the suspicions of her involvement in all of this.

"Fine,  _Mr. Hyde_ ," she snapped, accentuating her pronunciation of the man's last name, while taking her hand out of her coat pocket alongside of the phone and throwing it on the snow carpet, "I took it out of Alec's corpse near the cave's entry, but only because I needed to know when you or your father were coming back. I didn't do this!"

She wanted to hit herself for not having a way to send some kind of message to Henry as her situation was getting more slippery by the second. There was no need to be a genius to acknowledge that the walls were closing, and closing fast, on the young woman. If only she could buy some time. Except, no matter how much time she would buy, Henry wouldn't flee without a warning.

"And you didn't think about calling us ahead? Were you trying to buy time for yourself? Or someone?" The act had been dropped and the accusations were clear with every word. Hyde strongly grabbed the woman's black's jacket and pulled her closer, close enough for Olivia to smell the man's disgusting breath now that her face was barely inches from his, "who are you trying to protect?"

"I'm not trying to protect anyone," she assured, keeping her ground and maintaining eye contact.

"So, you're sure you're alone?" Growled her boss, anger emanating from his every word while shaking her like a rag doll.

"Yes, I am," she answered, not missing a beat.

"Alright then... if that's the case you won't mind if we're making sure there's nothing to worry about," before continuing and without letting go of his prey, he turned toward his man who wasn't holding the second victim, "call the boys and tell them to go check the house. If there's anyone inside, kill them all."

Olivia's eyes grew wide, "NO! Wait!" Her body might be fit, but she was largely overpowered by the man holding her. Her boss didn't even seem bothered at all by her weak struggling and kicking attempts.

Without warning, a powerful hook connected straight with her jaw and sent the whole scenery whirling in front of her eyes under the impact. She was unable to explain how, mere moments later, she suddenly ended up laying in the snow. In fact, the only thing keeping her from slipping into darkness was that one thought, Henry!

"Don't… hurt… him," she managed to rasp.

The only answer she got was a smirk, "there won't be anyone to hurt if it's empty, right?"

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

There she was again, that brunette, the one to whom Barry had sworn he was going to kill the second he would be out of his small and bluish prison. Instinctively, Barry knew it wasn't real, it was some sort of dream, or memories perhaps, but it just felt so real. Barry could feel his whole entity burning with hatred as he was holding her by the throat and against the wall while his fingers were digging deeper into the woman's flesh, efficiently cutting all her oxygen supply. He wanted her to die with every fibre of his body, he wanted to destroy her, her and everyone else in the room and the delight of his actions were overwhelming his senses.

One more moment and it would be over; he could feel his victim's struggles growing weaker by the second. Yes, just one more moment…People were screaming all sorts of things at him, words he could barely comprehend, words that sounded like gibberish for most of them.

_'…don't do it! You want to…'_

For some reason, that was the only clear part of the sentence he could clearly hear and understand and the voice, that man's voice, it was just so familiar. The whole scenery was slowly turning blurry, disappearing in front of his eyes, but if Barry just wanted one more moment to identify who was talking to him, but everything turned to black before he could see any faces.

Waking up suddenly, gasping and drenched in sweat was starting to become a habit for the speedster who snapped open his eyes and his glance darted over the room, trying to recollect where he was and what happened to him. Oh right, he had been recuperating at this place for days and Olivia had been gone all day. Turning his hand around, he looked at the time; 1:13 am.

"Olivia?" He called out, quietly at first, but quickly raising his voice to repeat his question when it went unanswered.

There's no reason why she shouldn't be back by now. Well, no reason that Barry was aware of. What if whatever she had been involved with, what she refused to share earlier, somehow caught up with her? Once he realized his friend was nowhere to be found in the house and that the sheet on the sofa hadn't moved an inch since last night, he returned to the bedroom determined to get his day started and find out what happened to his friend. Who cared if it was the middle of the night?

Closing the drawer, once he had chosen a clean pair of jeans and a plaid pale brown and white shirt, the speedster's brain started reflecting on the origin of these clothes while getting dressed. The better he was getting physically, the more his brain was getting triggered by anything and everything. How could something as trivial as clothes be causing him so much questioning? Did he use to be some kind of detective or something like that?

Who owned all these shirts and clothes? Olivia's boyfriend? Brother? Father? Someone who apparently wasn't home very often lately. He was abruptly brought back to reality when he heard a sound at the door.

_Knock knock_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment
> 
> Are we all trusting Olivia now? ;) I regret nothing for that cliff. Anyone ready to volunteer as a tribute to save both Barry and olivia?
> 
> PS: Did I ''''forgot''''' to mention that Hyde had a son in the last story?...silly me *Evil laugh*


	6. Electricity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Olivia are fighting for their lives

"It was me, I did it! Leave Henry out of this, he's innocent!" Pleaded Olivia, trashing and uselessly pulling against the restraints that were keeping her tightly tied up against the tree

She probably should give up, but she just couldn't and now, thanks to her struggles, most of her hairs were untied and uselessly slashing in the wind.

"Oh, Olivia… I'm so disappointed in you. I really thought we had something special going on," mocked Hyde, smirking victoriously before striding away, hands and arms in his back, "that's too bad, it might take a moment to find someone else with your skills."

"I need to get out of here," murmured Olivia under her breath, pulling once again against her restraints and barely containing the yell of pain as her newly dislocated left shoulder let itself known.

The only result she managed to obtain was getting the ropes to cut a little deeper into her wrists and feel the world spinning a little more in front of her eyes. The nauseous coming alongside the rest of the sensations confirmed that she probably had a concussion thanks to the countless hit she received on the head before getting tied to the tree. Add that to the list of injuries.

"Just give up, we'll all die here," whispered the woman standing next to her, tied up to the closest tree.

"I can't, I won't," she retorted harshly, fire burning in her eyes, "I'll get you out. We'll find a way."

The young teenager slowly turned her heavy head and blinked from her sole opened eye before speaking up, her strangled voice barely above a whisper:

"Why are you doing this? You were working for them, weren't you?"

"I was... sort of. I had to," she admitted, "but I can't justify helping these monsters, not anymore, even if it cost me my life," she replied, trying to sound as strong as possible despite her distorted voice, probably due to her sore jaw following the harsh beating she received earlier. The worst part was that she didn't even know the last name of the man for whom she was doing this, nor did she have any clue about where he came from or who he really was.

"Why?" Rasped the teenager.

"I don't know... I just know I can't anymore," truthfully whispered Olivia, looking at her boss and the two strong men standing still in the snow, "I just want to go home. I just want my friend to be okay and I just want to bring him with me," she quietly replied, mostly to herself.

"But why... what has he done to you to deserve this loyalty?" The girl asked, intrigued.

"Because I... I have no idea," Olivia admitted, shivering as her own answer scared her. Why risk everything for this unknown man? It didn't matter now since she would never see him again. Falling into silence again and giving up all hope, Olivia finally relaxed and let her body and head lean forward. It was the end, for all of them. She loudly sniffed while silent tears started falling down her bruised cheeks.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

_Knock knock._

Who could this possibly be at this time of night? Barry frowned and raised his head up. Could this be Olivia who was coming back and forgot her keys or something like that? Sneaking closer the strong wooden door, Barry approached his face, wishing there was a window to allow him to see who was there.

"Hello?"

"We need help! Please!" A panicked voice answered, desperately calling for help and banging on the door.

"Hang in there, I'll help you!" Shouted back Barry, clumsily hurrying to turn the tight lock and to unlock the door. No matter what the situation was, no matter the fact that he had no idea what he was supposed to do in case of an emergency and had zero self-defence training, as far as he knew, every fibre of his body was screaming to just  _HELP_  these people in need.

When Barry realized his mistakes, it was already too late. The instant the door was free of all obstacles preventing it from moving, it flew open and violently shoved the speedster on the ground with his head hitting the corner of the buffet furniture with a loud thump.

With the walls spinning in front of his eyes and the bell resonating in his ears, he barely heard the two tall and hooded men charging inside. One moved away for an instant to check all the rooms while the second one strongly grabbed a hold of the speedster's collar, putting and holding him on his knees.

"You're in for a world of pain."

Punches and kicks started raining down on the young man who didn't have time to even comprehend what was happening. Why were these men here? Were they here to take revenge for the two people he had sworn to kill in his flashbacks, these two familiar faces in his dreams? Perhaps. Probably?

"Please... I... I-" another powerful blow on his right cheek cut his sentence short and sent him kissing the ground once more, coughing out blood, just before he was brutally grabbed by one of his aggressors who harshly forced him back on his knees.

"Any last confession you wanna make before you die?" Growled the standing man in front of him, waving his gun at his victim's face while his partner was standing just behind the wounded man.

"I'm sorry... for what... what I... did... I don't know what happened," stammered Barry, causing a smirk on the other man's face.

"It wasn't that hard to admit it, wasn't it?" Smiling creepily, he pointed his gun at the fallen hero's head, slowly approaching his finger to the trigger.

Barry simply closed his eyes, that was the end. Was that what people were saying about everything happening in slow motion when you're about to die? It was taking forever for the other man to press the trigger and end his life. If only he could see his life flashing before his eyes before dying, needing to know who he was before leaving this realm.

The detonation sound resonated in the room as the trigger was finally pressed. Goodbye world…

Except, Barry didn't feel any sharp or agonizing pain, nor did he feel the world going black around him. Memories or not, it wasn't that hard to know how crazy fast a bullet could cover the small distance between the weapon and his victim's head. No, instead of pain, Barry just had the weirdest sensation, he just felt….  _electricity_? A strong electrical current had somehow replaced the blood in his veins and had invaded his whole body while a strong thought assaulted his mind; move. RUN! Daring to crack his right eye open, then his left, Barry just blinked. Time had somehow frozen. The bullet was mostly suspended in mid-air, closing on his brain, but closing at an agonizing crawling pace.

What the… was he dead and reliving his last moments? No, he wasn't feeling dead, in fact, he was feeling alive more than he ever had. One thing for sure, he didn't want to die right here and right now for crimes he didn't remember committing. In a fraction of a second, Barry tilted his head to the left, not much, but just enough and just in time to feel the bullet grazing his skull before continuing his course behind him, right through the floor. Rushing back to his feet, Barry could feel sparks of electricity flying all over his body, what was happening to him? He could feel his heart painfully hammering in his chest as he stood frozen in shock, his eyes wide open like a deer caught in headlights.

"How did you-" growled the man who just tried to shoot him.

"He's The Ghost!" His acolyte screamed, "kill him!"

What? The ghost? What ghost? Barry was pretty sure he was still alive. A gunshot resonated behind him, prompting him to swiftly move out of the way and dodge the fast-coming bullet that went straight to the first attacker's stomach who gasped, his breath cut out of him, before falling on the ground. One attacker down, one to go. Even if that guy just tried to kill him, Barry's stomach tightens up at the sight of all the blood now pouring out of the wounded and dying man, feeling like he needed to help that person. Why would he, a murderer, feel like that? No time to think about that, no now.

"I'll kill you!" Shouted his second attacker, shooting again and again... and again. And another time.

Pushing his limits and letting the amazing pulses of electricity taking control of his muscles, Barry swiftly dodged the new bullets coming his way while they were moving in slow motion. Turning around as they passed him, he witnessed the bullets, back at normal speed, entering the wall of the now messed-up house.

"Stop! I don't wanna fight!" He shouted, turning around to face his opponent with his left arm raised in a slight sign of good faith.

"Too late for that! You killed my friend!" Shouted the other man, already ready for more.

"I didn't do-ARG!" Too concentrated on trying to stop the hostilities, Barry was a tad too slow to dodge the next bullet, at least, completely. He succeeded in avoiding the projectile to hit his chest and his organs, but it still pierced through his skin on his right side, making him fall to his knees, screaming in agony. Damn! That was burning like hell!

"Got you!" Victoriously shouted his attacker, getting ready to finish it…. and he would've if it wasn't for his weapon refusing to fire another time, completely out of ammo, "dammit!'' he cursed, letting go of the gun and reaching out for a knife in his pocket before quickly striding toward his puffing victim.

Barry's side was on fire, his shirt was getting more stained by blood by the second and the air was struggling to get in and out under the agony he was enduring at the moment. His ears might be ringing, and his watery eyes might be seeing black spots, but he was still alert enough to notice that his break was about to get cut short, just like his life if he wasn't to act fast. Desperately pushing through the pain, the fallen man jumped back on his feet, shouting, "ENOUGH!"

With all the strength given by the adrenaline, he gathered all the power he possibly could in his arms and, after walking out of the knife's trajectory, he punched the other man in the head with everything he had.

A sickening crack followed at the second his opponent suddenly dropped on the ground, instantly dead, like a puppet free of all strings. Oh God...he just killed that man, he just broke another person's neck with his miscalculated strength. Drunkenly staggering, under the pain, the shock, and the hit he took to the head earlier, Barry's stomach rebelled, and he had to kneel over to empty all his organ's content on the ground. Where was Olivia? Had these men killed her? Was she dead because of him? Did they kill her because of what he did back home, wherever that was?

Before his brain could manage to catch up with his legs, Barry found himself running again, pushing through the reserves of adrenaline still in the tank. The scenery was blurring on each side of him as he was striding along the road. He could've stopped to think about what he was doing, but he didn't, feeling the urge to let these powers guide him.

When Barry slid to a stop, badly stumbling, and almost crashing face first on the ground in the process, it was to realize that his instincts guided him straight into an old medieval fortress. It might be the middle of the night, but it looked like a tourist alley. Why guide him there? Oh and, what was that smell? It was smelling like something had been forgotten in the oven. Oh damn, he was on fire! That'd explain the burning scent! Damn, damn, damn! Small flames were indeed present on the side of his shirt and his shoes were smoking. Frantically tapping and rubbing his shirt and scrubbing the shoes on the white stones, he managed, barely, to escape the faith of a being turned into a roasted chicken.

"That was fun," Barry said, taking a shaky breath before letting his body slump against the closest white brick wall and touched his injury, wincing at the contact.

Moving his fingers away, he relaxed just slightly at the sight; it looked like the bleeding had slowed down a touch. That was unless it was just his imagination which was hard to tell considering all the blood already on his partly burned shirt and on his fingers. Maybe he should speed away to the closest hospital, wherever that was...except he couldn't stop worrying about his friend. His unconscious mind, or maybe it was these powers, wanted him to go back here, why?

Maybe it was blood loss, or shock, or something else... but, like he was living in a vivid dream, Barry started to hear a voice clearly speaking to him in his head. Not any voice, Olivia's voice!

_Well, hello Henry. Glad you found your way here._

_Do I know you? You do look familiar?_

_I just heard it's a pretty unique location._

_..._

As words were succeeding each other, everything else became clearer; he could almost see her standing right in front of his current position and right in front of that closed shop in the middle of the alley. Barry could see Olivia, in his head, as he was helping her get back from the ground and on her feet before gathering her lost groceries spread all over the ground. He remembered now, he remembered meeting her right here. The whole scene started replaying in his head, well, mostly, pieces by pieces and mostly out of order. Why was it so impor-

There it is, what he's been trying so hard to remember and what his unconscious mind had been trying to tell him. In the next instant, the memories switched to a point in the conversation where Olivia was giving him clear instructions;

_I just heard it's a pretty unique location. If you take highway D32, once you're past the Dolmen, a few miles south…_

That's it! Olivia's apparently secret location. That's where she had to be, right? Letting go of the wall, clenching his jaw and biting his cheeks to keep away the groan of pain, Barry stumbled badly as his surrounding turned white for an instant thanks to the burning pain in his side.

 _Come on, don't give up on me!,_  He fought against his mind and body, not yet. Not until he knew for sure that his new friend was safe. In the next instant, he found himself rushing and running again.

After arriving at his destination, Barry attempted a complete stop. Attempting being the key word in this sentence as he badly entangled his legs together and almost face planted straight into the ground. Recovering at the last second, he managed to make a move around the hostages and to strongly punch, without the creeping cracking sound this time, the guy standing the closest to the girls. Except, that's all he managed to do before he fell back down and found himself unable to get back up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment , so appreciated.
> 
> Going back to Olivia next chapter and I can promise more action coming up. I can say that there's one of you who have figured out half of what's going on with Olivia ;)


	7. Kill or be killed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olivia fights to protect herself, Barry and the latest victim

What the... just happened? One second, Olivia was tightly secured against a tree, feeling more hopeless than she never had in her entire her life and the next, a yellow lighting arrived and zigzagged around her and her surroundings before stopping as fast as it started. The aftermath of this phenomenon left the surprisingly still alive Henry on the ground and at her feet, laying on his side with his face looking in the opposite direction. Impossible to tell if he was currently conscious or not.

"Henry!'' She screamed, the name leaving her lips before she could think about it.

Her first instinct was to fight once more against the restrains with everything she had in a desperate attempt to protect her friend, except, just as she was about to make her move, she surprisingly realized the ropes weren't there anymore. She surely would've remembered breaking herself out or being freed. Unless, could it be? The woman just stood there, slowly analysing the new situation she found herself in; free and with these objects now in her possession.

By the time she was done with assessing the new elements, it was too late to react as her rich boss had now approached the laying, mostly unmoving and groaning form sprawled on the ground. Bad timing, as always...Unless she could find a way to turn it into an opportunity.

"So, you're the one. You're the one who killed my father. I expected you to give more of a fight," taunted Hyde, kneeling in the snow, next to his victim.

Barely hanging on to consciousness, Barry struggled to push himself to his elbows, only to get laughed at and cut the oxygen out of him by a shameless hand being pressed against the wound, a wound that Olivia just noticed now. She needed to act and act fast to save her friend.

"I guess The Ghost's reputation was greater than the man behind the mask. Maybe I should thank you, my father was an old and fragile person and now, everything still standing is mine for the taking."

Smiling cruelly as he was speaking, he obviously wasn't caring about how little of his speech was probably being understood at the moment by his wounded victim. Slowly, he took out a knife out of his long black vest pocket:

"Bye bye Ghosty."

The rich man probably never had time to comprehend what was happening to him as a sharp and long knife blade cut deeply his back, sectioning his spinal cord instantly and sending his limp and dead body to the ground. Well, he didn't exactly land in the snow, it was more like falling on his victim's torso who gasped out in agony despite being mostly unconscious at the moment.

The teenager and the still standing guard's gazes all fell on Olivia who was now standing tall above the corpse of her dead boss with her eyes burning with hate and desperation to live and be free.

"What did you-" shouted the second guard, the one still standing, while reaching out for his jean's belt, probably trying to grab his gun attached to it.

Except, he wasn't fast enough. Running high on adrenaline, Olivia managed to swiftly turn on her feet, to grab a gun that was hidden in her jacket and fire at her opponent.

Before her adversary's gun was ready to shoot, he had already joined his boss on the ground with a gashing bullet hole straight over his heart.

"Nice aim," the girl still tied to the tree commented, eyes wide open as she was trying to understand what the hell happened in the last couple of moments.

"I was aiming for the head," shrugged Olivia. Head or heart? The result was the same either way.

Turning around, the woman aimed and shot the only accomplice that was still breathing and who had been knocked down earlier, causing the teenager to jump in surprise.

"He wasn't a threat anymore!" She protested.

It's not that she had any sympathy for the monsters who kidnapped, beat up her up and brought her to this place, but it was unsettling how calm the woman was after murdering three people in cold blood in front of her eyes.

"He could've woken up at any second now to take us by surprise," Olivia replied, taking the knife out of Hyde's back with a sickening suction sound on his way out before jogging behind the teenager to cut her restraints as fast as possible. With every movement she was doing, her eyes never left her still friend on the ground, desperately looking for any sign that he was still breathing.

"What happened? How did you-"

"I didn't," she answered without letting her new companion finish her sentence, guessing ahead the rest question. How was she able to free herself? And get weapons? It wasn't thanks to her, "he did." She said, finishing her first task before rushing back to her wounded friend and pushing Hyde's body off him in order to free the speedster from the weight. Olivia didn't have all the answers just yet, but it would be logical to guess that Henry probably stole the gun and knife from the first person he knocked down before trying and badly failing, at making his next move.

Ignoring the pain in her jaw and dislocated left shoulder, Olivia moved the man on his back. It wasn't that hard, once that was done, to see what was wrong with her friend once she took notice of the huge red mark on the shirt. It sure wasn't finger painting.

"Is he going to be okay?" nervously asked the teenager who suddenly appeared next to Olivia and saw the full extent of the situation, "we have to call 911!"

"Dammit Henry, how many times do I have to fix you?" Olivia grumbled between her teeth while avoiding responding to her new companion

Despite her weak try at lightening up the mood, worried could be heard in every syllable. First thing first, she needed to focus on her friend, there was no time to chit chat much with the other prisoner, not to mention that 911 wasn't going to work in Europe... That poor girl had probably been taken in America if it was the only emergency number she knew. Not really a surprise considering her American accent.

Slightly putting up her jacket with her injured arm, biting her cheeks in an effort to keep her own agony away, she exposed her pale white and green flannel shirt and used her knife to cut part of it. The next moment, she did the same for her friend to expose his wound. or, more like, to expose the blood covered area under which was hiding the injury. Rolling the cut part of her shirt in the snow, Olivia pressed it in her hands in order to melt the snow and wet the fabric. Once it was done, she rubbed it against her friend's side, whispering and humming to him as the speedster weakly tried to get away from the painful and freezing contact.

"Shhh, it's okay, Henry, it's okay. I got you."

That definitely was a bullet wound. Staying deaf to his muffled protests, Olivia turned him back on his opposite side to get a better look at the full extent of the injury. All right, no exit wound. At least, on the bright side, the wound was barely bleeding anymore, which was slightly suspicious, but it was good. The woman sighed and turned toward the girl:

"What's your name?"

"Amelia," the young woman answered with tremors in her voice that matched her badly shaking body. Hard to tell if the symptoms were signs of shock settling in or if it was just the adrenaline rush leaving her body. Either way, Amelia slightly turned her head around to avoid looking at the bloody scene and at the corpses laying all around.

"Alright, Amelia, I'm Olivia. I need your help. I need you to stay by his side and hold him down while I treat him, alright?" She asked, gently, while looking around for anything that might help in her task.

Treat him? As in...?

"Are you crazy?!" Exclaimed the teenager, fearing that she might be understanding what Olivia had in mind, "you can't seriously consider treating him out here! He needs an ambulance, he needs real equipment and a clean, sterile, environment!"

"Trust me, alright? I know what I'm doing," she responded with her authoritarian tone of voice leaving little place for arguing.

First thing first; her arm. She wasn't going to get much done with her shoulder out of his socket. That wasn't going to be fun. Rushing to a close tree with two trunks close to each other, only leaving a narrow opening, she pushed her arm into it and jammed it in place under the cautious and terrified look of her observer. Lives were depending on her, she couldn't waste time getting help and waiting to heal.

"ARRG!" She screamed, almost completely covering the loud pop, when she forcibly put her limb back into place, before falling on her now staggering knees, thanks to the pain.

Come on, girl. Get up, she encouraged herself, getting back on her feet.

Now, time to the next task. A moment later, she was already moving from one corpse to another, searching into their deep jacket and jeans' pockets and taking everything that could turn out useful: their phones, wallets, and a flashlight.

Despite already having collected these useful items, she kept on searching 'til she finally exclaimed: "Got it!" She proudly raised a pair of pliers in front of her face, smiling.

They weren't exactly clean, they were in fact very rusty, and red with dry blood too. Who knows what these people had been doing with it, but Olivia was just glad she was right about these monsters carrying a pair around. Probably for torture purposes...

"You can't use that!" Protested Amelia, her eyes widening a bit more and really starting to question the woman's sanity; ''Please tell me you're not planning to take the bullet out with those, even if we do get it out, the infection and shock will kill him!''

"I treated him for worse and we can't risk going to the hospital with his powers. Just hold him down as much as you can and hold the light," Olivia instructed, handing over the flashlight before leaning over the wound, trying to stretch the skin around the hole to have a better view and access.

"Yes!" She exclaimed only after a few seconds, "I can see the bullet; it hits the ribs and got stopped by them."

Thank the good Lord it didn't land higher or it could've hit his organs, she thought to herself. Impossible to tell if the ribs were broken from the light and under these conditions. It was highly probable, but it didn't matter.

Entering her improvised and dirty equipment into the wound, she flinched at the yell of pain that escaped the man's lips but kept on going. Digging further, she swore when a click sound made itself heard when the pliers contacted something metallic and the bullet escaped her grasp. The exhausted teenager was having trouble keeping the hero as still as possible and all this digging around in the wound surely wasn't helping.

"Stop! Please!" His raspy voice shouted in protest, his pleads staying mostly unheard as Olivia kept on working.

"Shhh Henry, almost there. Almost... GOT IT!" She triumphantly shouted as she took out the small projectile and shined it under the flashlight beam that followed the equipment's movement, needing confirmation and blinding Olivia's eyes in the process.

Olivia moved her glance away to avoid the light and, after a second of silent deliberation, she put the blood-stained bullet in her vest pocket.

"Now, what's the plan?" Growled Amelia, pressing down on the wound that started bleeding again thanks to all the digging, not receiving a single sound from the injured man as he had completely succumbed to the darkness. Gosh, he looked terrible and not just because of his bullet wound, he took quite the beating and his nose looked broken.

"Now, we do that," said Olivia, putting down the pliers and raising her hands... before freezing midway, pain and doubt passing like a shadow in her eyes.

"Olivia?" Asked Amelia, after a few seconds of silence, "we need to do something!"

"On it, on it," Olivia just took the deepest of breaths, fearing the worst. What was Amelia going to think of her? What would Henry think if he as to wake up now? No, she couldn't think like that, especially not after her mysterious friend just showed some powers of his own and that fact didn't stop Amelia to try and help him.

Closing her eyes, Olivia let the energy flow inside her body and toward her extremities, feeling the warm and comforting sensation taking control. A gasp coming from her right prompted her to open her eyes and to look down at her hands that were now glowing with a pale blue shade.

"Whoa, that's cool," Amelia stared eyes with fascination at the phenomenon. There was no fear in them and no disgust to be heard in her voice.

"Watch and learn," softly said Olivia, closing her eyes once more, this time in concentration. Confidently, she pressed her hands down on her friend's abdomen, right over the gashing hole. It didn't take too long before her breathing started getting faster, more erratic and before sweat started appearing on her forehead.

"Olivia?" Nervously asked Amelia, just as all physical contact was lost and Olivia dangerously whirled like she was about to fall over.

"I'm okay," She assured after a couple of anxious seconds, putting her right arm on the ground behind her to prevent herself from crashing in the snow, "I'm okay," she repeated, stabilizing herself and leaning forward to the wound before smiling in relief, "everything's going to be good; I made sure to heal all the damages and broken ribs. You don't have to worry, there's no risk of infection anymore, he just needs to rest," she said, wiping her runny nose.

Indeed, there were no signs of the bullet wound anymore. Hell, even most of his bruises looked completely healed up. Well, almost everything considering that her friend's nose still looked broken, but it could wait 'til they were safe and until she had a place to rest herself.

"That's definitely cool," Amelia replied, smiling as much as she could despite her sore features, "you guys saved me. Thank you."

That's definitely cool

These simple words felt like a wave of relief washing over the kneeling woman. She had heard a lot of things to describe her abilities since the explosion, but cool had never been used before. It surely wasn't what Olivia was expecting. Getting up and staggering for a few steps until she stabilized herself, Olivia turned toward her new friend:

"Alright, Amelia, can you walk and help me?" Amelia nodded, prompting Olivia to continue, "we can go back to the road and grab back the car I've stolen. After that, what do you say I drop you to the closest town? You can go ask help to the police. Just make sure you give us a couple of hour head start first. try to keep us as much out of the story as you can."

As she was talking, Olivia was filling her pockets with the cash, phones, and credit cards she took from the corpses earlier, feeling she was going to need every available resource for her trip awaiting her. Hopefully, by the time the police would figure these men's identities, she and Henry would be as far away as possible, where they wouldn't be able to track them or link them to this whole mess.

Amelia frowned in confusion, "what about you? You need to take care of your own wounds."

"We-" Olivia looked down at the fallen hero, "we'll heal and we're going home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who saw it coming that Olivia was a meta? Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on the chapter.
> 
> Raise your hand if you're ready for some long awaited honest chat between Barry and Olivia because it's coming next week.


	8. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and get their much needed chat about Olivia's past and motivations before deciding their next move

''Welcome back, stranger.'' Warmly said Olivia, sitting on the side of the old and creaking wooden bed. Her long and partly wet blonde hairs were hanging over her left shoulder and they were all curled on their way down.

''What?'' Rasped Barry, slowly putting himself on his elbows, ''why do i feel like I've seen this movie before?''

How many times was he going to wake up to Olivia watching him?

''Yeah...'' Funnily winced Olivia, ''I was searching for the right moment to tell you that; but we're actually stuck in Groundhog day.''

''As long as this day doesn't end up with me getting shot.'' Grumbled Barry, half-joking, and not completely sure what that woman was referring to.

' _How come I almost said that my friend loves this movie? Wait... how do even know Olivia was talking about a movie?_ ' Suddenly wondered Barry for one second, before pushing the thoughts aside.

''I'm guessing we all survived.'' Observed Barry as he was looking around and squinting his nose at the cheap and strong disinfectant smell attacking his nostrils. All clues were indicating that he was now standing, or more like resting, in a cheap motel room instead of being in a spacious and clean bedroom like before.

The sickly looking green walls were in desperate need of some repainting just like the yellowish ceiling was long past due for some maintenance. At the foot of his queen size bed, covered by a discolored pink cover was a mini fridge and a small counter while, on Barry's right, there was another bed just like his.

''What happened?'' He asked.

''You saved me...and I healed your wounds in return.'' Nervously stated Olivia, only realizing now how she was strongly grabbing the sheet under her fingers. Letting go, she slowly sent back some energy into her hands, making them faintly glow with the blue shade of light to prove her statement.

''You have powers.'' Commentated Barry as a fact, not a question, but Olivia still nodded at it before her friend continued, ''You're a metahuman. '' He added like an automatic.

''I am.'' She admitted, blushing and looking down for half a second, before suddenly frowning as understanding hit her. Did he just say that she…? ''How do you know what that term means?''

''I just know. '' Truthfully answered back Barry, baffled by his own words. He really had no idea how he possibly knew this word and its meaning, but he did. ''I guess I am one too.'' He added, looking down at his right hand and letting the electricity run through it 'til his limb was suddenly blurry and vibrating faster than normal eyes could see.

''What's happening to me? What's happening to us?'' He asked, sounding like a scared little boy.

''We have a lot to think and talk about, but first,'' leaning forward, Olivia gently patted her friend's leg through the sheets; ''how about you go get a good shower and we can discuss all of this after? Got you some new clothes to wear, they're on the chair right there. ''

It was only at that moment that Barry realized he was only wearing a pair of boxers at the moment and he blushed. Hopefully, if he eventually finds out he has a girlfriend back home, she won't mind the fact that he kept on waking up half-dressed in someone else's bed during his trip.

Once he was all cleaned up and dressed in a clean pair of jeans, a black t-shirt and in a blue hoodie, he took place on one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs of the small table in the motel room. On the other side of the table was sitting Olivia who had finished tying back her hair in her usual braid while she was wearing this long grey and black striped sweater that was descending midway between her hips and her thighs. Warm coffee cups were steaming in front of both young people as they were discussing the events of the night and what lead them to this situation. To be honest, that chat should've happened a long, long time ago.

"Look, Henry, I can't even say how sorry I am for dragging you into all of this. It was my fight and you almost died because of it. I never should've told you where the cave was to begin with. " Started Olivia, absently looking down at her warm liquid while she had both hand wrapped up around the cup.

"We both made it, didn't we? Just tell me everything and we'll figure it out, alright?"

"The truth is, I hadn't been honest with you with much of anything. In fact, we didn't meet in Rocamadour a couple of days ago; we've actually met last year when you were brought into France by these monsters." Admitted Olivia, head low and refusing to make eye contact. "I've actually been working with them for a moment." That last part was almost whispered, like she was wishing it wouldn't be heard.

"I don't understand." Stated Barry, confused and blinking a few times. He trusted her and he couldn't see her working for the bad guys, unless she had a very good reason for it.

To be fair, he wasn't exactly seeing himself being shady either, and yet everything was pointing that way.

Olivia sighed: where should she starts? At the beginning probably...That sounded like a good idea. Let's rewind this chat and this story to the very start:

"Look, what I told you about growing up helping my mother in her private medical clinic was all true, I was giving her a hand after school and on weekends, mostly with administration tasks and with the inventory. I was hoping to get into med school and was getting my application ready when something happened in my hometown. Something...big."

"Big how?" The woman had all of Barry's attention.

"There was this scientist….I can't remember his name. Weir? Wilson? I don't k-"

 _Wells._ That's the first name that popped into Barry's mind for no reason, but the speedster stayed quiet about this. It probably wasn't the right answer.

"-anyway, he tried this big experiment and everything went wrong; his lab released some kind of chemical in the air while I was doing the inventory for my mother. It was late, I just remember a blast and this energy sending me flying. Next thing I knew I was waking up in the middle of broken medication jars and my mother was standing over me."

"So, that's how you got your powers, right? " Guessed Barry, finally succeeding in getting the woman to look up at him before nodding. "Is that how I got mine too?"

Olivia shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know. Probably. I don't know a lot of other ways to give people powers, other than the Central City's explosion. "

Central City? That name sounded just as familiar as the faces of the two young people in his dreams. If he had been in that city a couple of years ago, was it possible that he knew them from there? Were they good or bad people? For a moment, it was Barry's turn to get hypnotized by his coffee as his mind wandered off.

"What happened next?" He finally asked, after reconnecting to reality and taking a few sips.

A tremor passed in the woman's body as a silent tear fell on the table before she managed to answer: "My brother died, almost 3 years ago now. He got killed during a sudden fight that erupted without any reason between all the customers and the guard at the bank while there was a robbery in progress. The person responsible said he didn't know why he did it, claiming that someone with red eyes made him angry. " She recalled, shaking. She caused Barry's hand to approach and land on her forearm in an effort to keep her grounded in the present.

"I'm sorry." What else could he say?

"Nobody believed him, of course. Nobody believed someone could magically make other people angry enough to kill each other just like that. That was until, not long after that, my parents suddenly became believers in people with powers..." Olivia took a short pause, looking at the window, before continuing, "My mom broke her arm when she slipped and fell on ice. I tried to help, that's all I wanted to do.. I don't know how it happened but the next thing I was aware of was my hands suddenly glowing blue..."

No need to be a genius to put two and two together and figure out what unfolded after that.

"She didn't take it well." Guessed out Barry and closing his eyes for a couple of second as the scene appeared and started playing in his head. Unable to speak for a moment, Olivia just shook her head and swallowed to clear her throat while struggling to keep her voice under control.

"She just freaked out and moved away the instant I tried touching her...I just wanted to help and she called me a monster, a monster like the one who caused my brother's death. She kicked me out not that long after that day."

What was Barry supposed to do? Or say? That he was sorry? Get up and hug her into the warmest embrace? The man just stayed there, watching as Olivia fought to keep her composure as she kept on going.

"I tried my best to survive after that. I had to steal for food, money and clothing and was living wherever I could find, which was mostly outside or in an abandoned building. That, or in the cheapest and most decrepit building I was lucky enough to afford. I got caught by the cops a couple of times and was sent once in a rehabilitation center for juvenile as I was still a couple of months short of being 18. "

' _That's some heavy stuff,'_  thought Barry. No wonder the woman turned out like she did; strong and fierce outside, but shaken inside.

"When I was inside," continued Olivia, "I ended in the wrong place, wrong time when an altercation started. I got beat up pretty bad and, at the infirmary, they started noticing how fast I was healing. So, of course, they all freaked out about it. I managed to escape before they could lock me somewhere else for my  _crimes_ of having powers."

Olivia took a pause to play with her long braid, bringing it over her shoulder and making Barry think she wasn't going to continue.

"Is that how you ended up working for these people?" he finally asked.

Olivia nodded: "They managed to find me while I was hiding in Star City, many, many months later and almost one and a half year after the explosion. I don't know how they found out about my powers, or found me for that matter, but they did. All they wanted from me was to heal their wounded and, after many months, they moved me here, in France, to help keep their prisoners alive. "

"That's how we met, didn't we? I was among them? The prisoners you were tasked to keep alive." Guessed Barry, slowly putting the pieces together.

"Eventually, yeah. At first, when Hyde's father took his first two prisoners in Europe, I failed to keep them alive. You wouldn't believe the treatments they were doing to these men... "

Barry unintentionally scoffed; he had been in the first row to witness and feel the horrors of this place, even if he couldn't remember much at the moment. Realizing what she said and who she was talking to, Olivia quickly corrected herself;

"Yeah, sorry. you would know...It was way harder than I thought to keep them alive. Hyde's men beat me up pretty badly when I failed the first two and I barely managed to keep you alive. You and the other, oldest man, that followed not that long after that."

That would explain it, well, almost everything.

"I gotta ask you something and don't take it the wrong way, but why help them? After what you witnessed and after what they did to you, why stay? I know they gave you food and shelter, but was it really worth it? "

Olivia closed her eyes and sighed; "They threatened to kill my parents. I know, it's stupid since they rejected me and threw me away like garbage...but they're still family. They're still the only family I have left."

Oh. But still, Barry frowned in confusion: ''Weren't you afraid he was going to hurt your family when you stood your ground last night?''

Olivia carefully considered her next words before answering: ''I thought about it, but, honestly? I figured I needed to take a chance. As much as I still care about my parents, they don't want to have anything to do with me and they kicked me out, on the other side of the world, while you, you're here. You're here, you supported and trusted me and I couldn't let you down.''

For the first time of the whole conversation, she looked straight at her interlocutor and smiled tenderly: "Thanks for being there for me."

"Of course, always." He smiled too before changing the subject, "what about me? You said earlier that you had clues into my identity. "

To be honest, Barry was 50/50 about his decision to ask. or maybe more like 60/40 in favor of not requesting. The dreams he had so far weren't exactly what he hoped his life was before he lost his memories. He really wanted, deep down, to be a good person and, despite almost dying earlier, he would make last night's decisions all over again if he could. He couldn't describe that huge sense of accomplishment and that pride he experienced when he saved Olivia and the other girl, these were sensations he really wanted to feel again, like a junkie running low on his addiction.

The woman in front of him lost her smile and got up to walk back to the entrance of the room where she left her backpack earlier, opening it in silence and taking a printed piece of paper before bringing it back. It was a newspaper article, one dating from September 2016 and one that Barry almost didn't look at, trying to turn his head around to avoid knowing the truth. Except, curiosity got the best of him and he couldn't stop himself from turning around and reading the title:

' _The Ghost strikes again in Star City'_

"While you were out, I went to the library to do some researches about the term the men used when speaking about you; The Ghost." Explained Olivia, taking back her seat before taking a pause to let her friend read the whole article.

"Apparently, " she continued, once Barry was done reading, "The Ghost had been wreaking havoc in a couple of big cities at the end of the summer and the beginning of the fall. He entered houses and stole stuff, sometimes beating a couple of people too. "

"You...you don't think it was me, do you?" Asked Barry, his hands shaking as he took the article between his hands. He knew, deep inside, that it was him, but if only…

"The time of his first apparition is not that long after I last saw you and his powers are matching yours. Plus, the description of his suit fit what you were wearing when I found you at the cave after it went down. I'm sorry, Henry. "

" Not as much as me. What now? What are you going to do about me?"

She probably was about to throw him away too. After all, he was just as bad as the people she just killed. Why would she get free of monsters just to help another villain? Except, the next words she said were the last ones he expected, even if he had no idea what they meant;

"Now, we go back to my hometown and go find The Flash. " She said with determination burning in her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now you have it, Olivia's background :) Leave a comment
> 
> And send Olivia a hug if you can, that poor girl.


	9. Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Olivia try to connect the dots about Barry's past and start making plans for the future while Central City citizens are wondering if their hero is really gone

"The... Flash?" Barry pronounced carefully as he rolled the word on his tongue, feeling like he heard and even pronounced that word a thousand times before, "I know him," he spluttered.

"You do?" That was a surprise.

"I heard that name before, many times... I'm sure of it. Do you know what he looks like?" Swiftly, Barry got up and rushed behind his friend who had taken out one of the stolen cell phone she decided to keep with her once the tracker had been removed. He was close, so close, to figure out some crucial information's, Barry just knew it.

"There, y-" tried to say Olivia as she managed to find a clear picture of the speedster that had been taken on Flash day, but she got brutally cut off when the phone was suddenly snatched out of her hands by Barry who needed to take a closer look. The phone was barely inches away from his face as he was carefully scrutinizing the red hero standing on the stage and waving at the crowd.

Barry squinted his eyes as he kept on analysing every detail in front of Olivia's curious eyes. Where had he seen this suit before? He could feel he had seen it very recently. That's when it suddenly clicked.

"I've dreamt about this," he finally answered.

It was Olivia's turn to open her eyes widely; he did?

"What? When?"

Putting back the phone on the table, Barry backed off by a couple of feet when he realized he still hadn't told the woman about his dreams. His first intention had been to keep them for himself, but he couldn't do that anymore, not after the way his friend came clean to him about her troubled past life.

"I've been having these weird dreams lately and I think they might be memories," he admitted, turning around to face Olivia, "I saw myself being in this eerie prison cell while threatening some people that I was going to murder them, then, probably later, I found myself strangling one of them, a woman, to death."

"Is…. she…?" Carefully inquired Olivia.

Barry just shook his head slightly, exhaling and closing his eyes for an instant, "I don't know, I woke up before I could see the end of it. But, there were people screaming at me from behind and when I turned around to look at their faces, I got a very quick glimpse of a red suit hanging on a mannequin. It was that suit," he said, pointing at the phone.

"The Flash's suit? You're sure?"

Barry nodded, "Positive," Rushing back to his chair, he dragged it away from the table before sitting on it and leaning forward. Clearly fighting off panic, he put his elbows on his knees and started to frantically play with his hairs.

"Do you think I killed the Flash's associates?" He asked.

Also getting up and dragging her chair so she could sit right in front of him, Olivia gently grabbed his forearms and pulled them slightly, so she could see the face that was now hidden behind the pair of hands, "take a deep breath, all right. In and out... like that."

She patiently waited for Barry to comply while forcing her own mind to calm down and not slide into a path of crazy supposition.

"We don't know the whole story yet, we don't even know what happened to them. It doesn't change anything."

"Weren't you listening? I'm an enemy of The Flash, I can't go with you and search for him, he'll find me! He'll lock me away! What make you think he'll listen to anything we have to say?"

"I started hearing rumours about him while I was in Star City. I heard of his existence and heard about some of the goods he's been doing. Plus, I've been doing some researches about that person while I was searching for the Ghost; he has the same powers that you, and he's been a hero in Central City for quite some time apparently. I'm sure he can help us. I'm sure he'll listen," the more she was speaking, the more excited the young woman was getting, regaining all the hope and strength she needed.

"That still doesn't sound like such a great idea for me. If I was at his place, I would fight first and ask questions later. What are you expecting you'll find if you do meet him?"

"If you guys really fought, the Flash might know who you are and where you're from. He might be able to help you," she countered, determined to put her plan into action.

"What about you? What are you expecting for yourself?"

As much as Barry believed in the woman's altruism, he didn't think she was willing to travel halfway across to world in hope to possibly find someone who might have some clues about her friend's identity. They could be setting on a wild goose chase for all they know.

The speedster was smart and knew how to read her. With everything she had already said earlier, might as well continue this completely honest and sharing path.

"I wish I could make up for everything I've done, and I wish I could find a way to finally use my powers for some goods. I'm really hoping that he might help me do that. He's the only Meta I've heard of who's been using his abilities to make the world a better place... I have to find him," she finally admitted.

"I don't know, Olivia... what if Flash does lock me up for everything I've done? He'll attack me and, to be honest, I'll probably deserve it. Remember what I said about that person I killed yesterday at the house?" He argued back, feeling his stomach twisting and tightening at the sick memory of the sound the neck made when it broke.

"From what you told me, it was self-defence and it was them or you. Hell, they shot you, Henry! Whatever happened between you and Flash, we can figure it out after we meet him. You're a good person, Henry. You came back in France after everything you endured to destroy the cave and stop these people."

"What if I came back for vengeance? What if I'm just as bad as the monsters who recruited you? You should probably run as far away from me as you can before I hurt you."

"You won't," she firmly reiterated, "you're a good person. If you were as bad as you picture yourself to be, you wouldn't have come back to save me and Amelia, especially while being injured."

"But... the article-" he tried to argue, only to get interrupted midway.

"For all we know, you might've been forced into doing whatever it is that you did, like I was. Maybe they threatened someone you love."

"We don't know that and-"

"Exactly!" Interrupted Olivia once more, "we don't know and even if, and I'm stressing the  _if_  here, you did bad things in the past, it doesn't mean you have to go back to the old ways after regaining your memories. I'm not proud of some of the things I did, but now I want to do some good with my life and my powers."

Sadly smiling, Barry yielded.

"Alright... I guess you win. I don't have anywhere else to go anyway. How do you plan on finding him?"

"Well, since you have encountered his acolytes and entered his lair, we might give a try at boosting your memories up and then, we'll just need to find you a passport for the trip awaiting us."

Pensively looking at the motel's window, Barry let his mind wander off about what the future could be holding for him. Could he really be having friends and family waiting for him, somewhere?

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

_Mysterious drowning killer still at large; no sign of The Flash_

_Is the Flash really dead?_

_Drowning killer determined to prove the Flash's dead_

_Flash's refusing to surrender_

These were ones of the many ominous titles now flashing brightly on the daily news reports on all the different channels. If it wasn't bad enough that two influential people were found dead during the opening of the Winter Festival under mysterious circumstances, now the media had a third victim and no sighting of The Flash to also put under their teeth.

"Is there anyone out there who remember how to do journalism correctly?" Grumbled Iris with clear frustration in her voice as she finished her zapping from channel to channel by freezing the screen on the last title and turning toward the team, "what the hell is that even supposed to mean that the Flash is refusing to surrender? They're making it sound like he abandoned everyone!"

"I know how you feel, baby girl," her dad answered calmly, advancing toward her, and putting his strong arm around her shoulders, "sadly, sensationalism is making more ratings than the truth."

"They might have a point," interjected Cisco, looking down at the computer to avoid the backlash he knew was probably coming for saying this.

"Excuse me?" Snapped Iris.

"Well... not about the part of Barry abandoning the town, but the fact that for most of Central City's citizens, they don't have a single clue about what happened with their hero. Since he beat Zoom in May, almost a full 9 months ago, the only time he went out there to save people was when he took down Hyde. And even then, he wasn't even wearing his suit. The only people who's seen him in it was Matt's wife."

"Your point being…?" Encouraged Caitlin, standing next to her friend.

"My point is that, that person-" he said, taking back control of the screen to show once more the video message that had been all over the news since this morning, the one that broadcasted a woman with black hair who was wearing a white mask and using a device to distort her voice, "-that person is threatening to kill one person every day if the Flash doesn't show up. She's convinced he's dead and she just wants to prove a point. People of Central City have the right to be scared under these circumstances."

"And to be fair, we still haven't proven that they can count on someone else to protect them from the danger in these last couple of months," reluctantly added Joe.

"Hey! It's not like I didn't try to do anything," protested Cisco, "you can't blame me because Matt took my powers away. If I recall, Barry managed to stop his rampage thanks to my help."

"Alright guys," intervened Caitlin to keep the group from drifting away from their actual conversation topic, "we can't keep thinking about the past; we need to figure out a plan to stop what's going on. I hate to say it, but this has to be our priority at the moment. We have no idea what's going on in Europe, but people are dying right here, right now. Our focus got to be on solving that problem."

Iris sighed. Barry wouldn't want it any other way, "Caitlin's right. I hate it too, but she is. What's the plan?"

Turning back his attention to his screen, Cisco started working before answering.

"Just let me adjust my Meta alert app to also detect any reported drowning. We never know, it might help. Once we have a lock on her next attack, I'll be ready," said Cisco, looking down at his gauntlets that were laying on the table. He failed to protect the city the last time Barry disappeared, just like he failed to find his friend the first time he went missing, but Cisco wasn't going to let anyone down this time around. He was going to go head on after that woman if he had to.

Hopefully, Barry could hang in there just a little while longer. Meanwhile, they all just needed to hold on to hope.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

It was gasping and shaking that Barry reconnected with the real world, opening his eyes, and reaching desperately for his left tibia while frantically moving his hands around it and pressing at different points.

Uncrossing her legs, Olivia went to her knees, visibly worried, and sat on her heels before reaching out for her friend's hand, trying to shake him out of his sudden panic's state, "Henry? Calm down, tell me what's going on."

Both young people had been sitting on the ground, legs crossed in a meditation posture for at least half an hour, hoping to reach out to Henry's unconscious mind and memories. Of course, her friend has been sceptical at first, but he finally accepted to try it. After all, what did they have to lose? Best case scenario, they would finally figure out Henry's real and complete identity. Worst case; they would continue with their plan of going blind in Central City to search for the city's hero.

"I've been shot!" He gasped, still looking at his leg for any sign of the injury and for a confirmation it really happened.

"Of course you were, I took the bullet out. You remember? But I'm pretty sure it wasn't in your leg..." she said, frowning in confusion.

"No, no, I wasn't talking about last night, I'm talking about my past."

"Okay…" Olivia trailed off, carefully watching and backing off as her friend was calming down.

"Remember what I told you about this dream where I attacked these Flash's acolytes and I was strangling that brunette?" Olivia nodded, allowing Barry to continue, "I think she might still be alive; someone shot me from behind before I could finish her up!" He quickly said.

"That's great!" Olivia replied, smiling now while Barry continued with enthusiasm.

"If she's alive that means we can find her and if we can find her, she can lead us to the Flash…" he paused a moment, looking away at the snowflakes dancing in the wind, "but I still hurt her... you might want to go find her alone. I'm not worth it. "

"Come on, you sound like a broken record," whatever he'd seen, the speedster looked pretty shaken up because of it. Getting up, Olivia swiftly walked toward her bed and took the cover before dragging it back and laying it over the man's shoulders, "there, you look cold."

Honestly, she half expected the young man to just shake it off, but instead he tugged it closer and tighter around his shoulders, whispering, "thanks."

Whatever he saw, it was more than just that one memory. Hopefully there had been happy moments in his past...moments that would eventually resurface.

"Don't worry and stop fighting me over this; I'm not leaving you behind."

"What if the Flash tries to hurt me?"

"I'll protect you," she said, with confidence as she went back to sit on the ground, close enough to playfully push the speedster with her shoulders, causing his first smile of the evening.

"Thanks for being there," He gratefully said before turning back his glance at the window, feeling a head gently laying down on his shoulder. For some reason, it was at this moment that a thought attacked him, "Snow..." he said, causing Olivia to giggle.

"Of course, it's snowing you silly…"

"No," he answered back seriously, "it's her name; Caitlin Snow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To quote my awesome betareader: ''Dun dun daaaa!'' XD
> 
> Leave a comment and get ready for some action and some Central City times for Barry and Olivia in the next couple of chapters.


	10. Against the current

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco goes in the field to protect the town against their new Meta and things don't go out quite as planned

"Our meta is attacking again!" Exclaimed Iris, approaching the computer that was beeping loudly so she could look at the location that was popping up on the screen.

"She's at the Waterfront and she's attacking tonight's exterior concert!" Caitlin responded as she read the information faster than her friend, "Cisco, are y-"

"I'm ready to go!" Cisco answered, entering the cortex just behind her as he was finishing to adjust his gauntlets and was taking his goggles off the desk.

"Just be careful, all right?" Requested Caitlin as her engineer friend was putting his goggles and was raising his right arm, ready to open a breach.

"Always am!" He said while opening a breach.

It was only when he jumped in it that he suddenly remembered saying the exact same thing when he went on to fight The Suppressor, AKA Matt, for the first time. Despite how bad the first fight went and how everything ended up with that man, at least it got Cisco reunited with his best friend which was a big plus. So, it was with a bittersweet smile on his lips that he made the short trip to the battle.

Coming out at the Waterfront in freezing winter temperatures, Cisco ended up at the top of the hill overlooking the fast-flowing river. Looking around quickly, Vibe took mental notes of his surroundings. First, on the left, at the highest point of the hill, the crowd that came for the concert was running away from the stage and the water thanks to the quickly spreading panic. The majority probably didn't even know what they were running from, having only heard the first couple of people screaming before taking off themselves. Turning back his attention toward the part that was closest to the water, Cisco finally spotted the threat and understood what this was all about; a woman with long, black and untie hair had a tight grip on a frail-looking blonde woman kneeling on the ground in front of her attacker. The victim looked barely conscious, as her eyes were rolling in their socket and she was weakly spitting water out of her mouth. The poor woman was barely defending herself anymore, too weak to fight back. She wasn't going to hang in there much longer.

So, good news: Cisco might've spotted the Meta, because yeah, this most definitely confirmed she was one, but the bad news was that she also spotted him. The woman was staring straight at the hero and she wasn't wearing her mask anymore like she did in the video message:

"Well well, what do we have here?" She asked smoothly, almost playfully, while keeping her grip on her barely struggling and barely breathing victim, "I'm pretty sure that you're not the Flash," she added.

"Let her go," ordered Cisco who was slowly raising both of his hands as he was getting ready to aim and fire his powers at her the second he had a clear shot. Too bad Vibe hadn't been able to catch her by surprise and attack before being spotted. The chances of settling this conflict in a nice and civilized matter by asking nicely and negotiating weren't very high. It never was with these types of criminal, especially the ones who had already killed.

"I wouldn't move another muscle if I were you," the Meta answered, clearly not feeling very threatened by the new hero in town, "unless you do wish to have that poor woman's death on your consciousness."

Clenching his jaw, Cisco slowly tried to defuse the situation by pointing his gauntlets toward the ground in a sign of good faith, "alright, alright no need to get nasty. Calm down. Your conflict is with The Flash, not with her."

The woman chuckled, clearly amused like she just heard the funniest of jokes, "if he was such a hero, he wouldn't need your help fighting his battle. Face it, he's either dead or he doesn't care about the city anymore and I'm going to prove it. It's time for the city to get this fake hero out of your head."

"If you want a hostage, take me! But leave her alone!" Argued back Cisco, hearing a gasp in his ears, closely followed by Caitlin's voice growling at him in his comms system:

"Cisco... what are you playing at? Don't get too close."

His adversary didn't respond to his request. For the next moment, all she did was stare at the hero with eagle's eyes as she was clearly uncaring about the way her victim had now completely stopped moving. Why would she care? It's not like the woman in front of her meant anything to her and, now, she still had the upper hand against Vibe. If Vibe wanted to save that innocent person's life, he needed to act, and he needed to do it quickly. Without taking the time to respond to his comms, he started.

"Look! You look smart and you have probably guessed that my gauntlets aren't just there for the look of it; I can't fight you without them. Let me take them off and we can trade places."

It wasn't completely a lie, he wasn't as strong and precise without them, but he could still defend his life. Hopefully, she was going to buy that half lie. From the corner of his eyes, Cisco saw many curious citizens lining up a good hundred feet away to watch the scene unfold while getting ready to cheer on the new hero. He just wished they would stay further away and not risk putting more lives at risk.

"Fine," finally grunted the Meta, "but if you do make any sudden m-"

"I won't," Cisco promised, carefully taking off the first one of his gauntlet and putting it down on the snow before proceeding into doing the same thing with the second one, just as slowly. Nice and easy, while still trying to hurry. Every second was counting.

While Cisco was leaning toward the ground and had lost eye contact for a second, half of one maybe, that's when a powerful spray of water suddenly surged at him and knocked the hero off his feet, sending him rolling. Even without looking up, Cisco knew exactly where it came from. Dammit! He should've guessed it that her water powers weren't just on contact and that she probably had some kind of offensive move.

"Cisco! What's going on?!" Caitlin's voice screamed in his comms as there wasn't a single security camera filming the scene at the moment.

"What's happening out there?" Iris inquired panickingly into the mic.

"Not... now," Panted Cisco who was already turning around and preparing a counter-attack.

Extending his arm, he threw a powerful shockwave to intercept the next attack that was coming at him. He might not be as powerful and precise without his gauntlets, not yet at least, but he was thankful he could still defend himself without them. In the next instant, both moves violently collided with each other and caused the crowd to gasp at a distance.

Alright, time to be careful and slow was over. It was all or nothing. While struggling to keep his ground, Cisco swiftly rose his second hand to open a breach right next to him, a breach he quickly rolled into and disappeared just before the next water spray came in and crashed on his previous location.

"Are we giving up?" Joyfully mocked out the woman, looking around and getting ready to fire another time as soon as her target would reappear. That was  _IF_  he was coming back considering how the Central City's heroes always seem to vanish and abandon the town's citizen. On the bright side, she finally let go of her way-too-still victim who silently crashed on the snow carpet.

A blue light appeared behind her back, announcing a second in advance the return of the masked black, yellow, and red superhero. Cisco was becoming a little faster every single week, but he clearly wasn't fast enough today as he barely had any time to get out of the breach and graze the ground with his feet before another before attack connected with his body and sent him flying and rolling one more time.

"Not very hero like right now, aren't you?" Giggled the woman as she was watching the hero go back once again on his knees and struggling to get back up as fast as possible, "let's see how much of a hero you are." She said, suddenly throwing another powerful spray of water toward her adversary.

Reacting faster than his mind could process information, Cisco rose his arm high above his head to send a new shockwave to intercept the last attack coming his way. How long were they going to do this dance? Was the Meta trying to see who would get tired the fastest? In his precarious situation, the strong water pressure made him lose his balance and Cisco fell back on his ass in a matter of seconds. When Vibe tried to regain some balance, he finally understood what the black-haired woman was planning to do, and it wasn't to continue firing at him forever.

"STOP!" He immediately screamed.

Right there, barely feet away from Vibe, while the hero was still recovering, the woman had grabbed her victim by the collar and had dragged her all the way to the fence. Cruelly smiling as she turned toward the still recuperating hero, she took the time to mock him one last time.

"Good luck,  _hero_ ," she said, pressing the last word before throwing her victim over the fence and right into the water.

Sirens were being heard in the distance as help was closing in on the scene, but they weren't going to make it on time. Especially considering the extra minutes they were going to need to get ready to securely enter the freezing river. Without wasting time thinking about his options, Cisco just started sprinting as fast as he possibly could toward the fence and he plunged after the dying woman, straight into the current.

The instant Cisco landed in the glacial liquid, the hero's whole body stiffened in shock and his mouth opened instantly to gasp. But, instead of expelling air, he ended up swallowing a mouthful of water. As he was coughing hard to clear his airways, Cisco almost forgot to keep on swimming and his head fell under the water surface once more moment. With his ringing ears and his heart literally hurting and clenching in his chest from the cold-water shock, he could barely even hear the voice screaming once again in his ear. The only thing he could do right now was to violently cough and to frantically kick with his legs that were becoming more and more number by the seconds, just like his arms.

 _Find the woman._  That was the only thought in his head, the one he needed to hang on to. He needed to keep going, he needed to save her... and hopefully save himself too. The wind and the waves caused by it weren't helping to achieve his objective of spotting the other person trapped in the current, neither was the twilight for that matter. If he could just get a little closer to where he approximated her fall. Struggling to get and keep his head above water while painfully coughing against the extra fluids that entered once again his mouth and lungs, he finally spotted her just feet away on the right. He could do it, he just needed to put a little extra effort. Pushing aside the cold, the numbness and the rising drowsiness, Cisco extended his arms forward in the current and started swimming toward the victim.

As Cisco was finally able to touch the woman's arm, he felt his last strength leaving him at the same time he heard very distant voices talking among them in his ears.

_''We have to do something! his vitals are off the chart!''_

_''I'm calling my dad!''_

The rest of his surrounding just became mostly blurry after that last sentence….

On the shore, down the hill and a little further down the river, first responders were starting to gather and look around for any sign of the two people who disappeared in the water many minutes earlier. At that temperature and with the waves still going on, every minute, every second was counting. Both people needed to be found and fast.

Two ambulances were already waiting for their patients while two policemen had already arrived, and more were coming on the scene. A fire truck was also parked close to the water.

"What's going on? Why isn't anyone doing anything?" Inquired the young CSI Emily as she arrived on the scene holding in her hands the two black and red gauntlets she picked up higher on the hill.

Agilely, she passed under the police tape being installed by the officers already on the scene who were delimiting a perimeter to work.

"We're waiting for the firefighters to get ready to go," informed a young officer in her early 30 who was standing next to the shore.

"Miss Sanchez, what are you doing here?" Asked an authoritarian voice right behind her, a voice the woman recognized and turned around to it.

"Captain, what are you doing here?" She fired back, returning the question before looking back at the river without giving her boss any time to answer, "THERE!" She suddenly exclaimed when the firetruck's spotlight got a glimpse of two figures floating on the water. Both were unmoving and it impossible to tell if they were conscious... or even alive for that matter. How long 'til they were going to sink under the current? They weren't that far from the shore and yet the rescuers were still getting ready to go in safely. Looking down at the cable that had been deployed on the shore for the rescue, Emily made a split-second decision.

"Screw this," she mumbled before letting go of the gauntlets and taking off running toward the water, grabbing the cable on her way.

"Emily!" Screamed the captain, not realizing he named the young woman by her first name.

Too late, the woman had already jumped in the freezing water while holding the rope as tight as possible in her hand. Gasping as the cold violently assaulted all her senses, she tightened her grip on her rope connecting her to the shore and pushed through the adrenaline to swim with everything she had toward the two people in distress. Within seconds, she reached out to them and took a grab on the hero in the yellow, black, and red uniform who, himself, still had a frozen grip on the woman.

"Hang in there!" She yelled, pulling hard on the rope two times, and trying to gesture in the air to indicate she was ready to be pulled out of the water.

Sure enough, in the next instant, strong people were starting to pull against the cord. Surely, but slowly, they managed to get the three people back the shore and the paramedics all rushed in to evaluate the situation and sort their priorities. The blonde-haired woman was obviously the one needing the most urgent cares as she still had to take another breath since getting out of the water, lying still as a corpse. On the other hand, the hero with mysterious blue glasses might still be breathing, but he was clearly struggling with it and intermittently coughing small amount of water.

"You're going to be okay, you're gonna be okay," Emily repeated a couple of times before being pulled away and directed by many pairs of hands toward a heating blanket and a place to sit. As much as she appreciated the much-needed heat to bring some sensations back into her freezing limbs, she hoped the others were going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't look at me like that, I can make all the characters suffer if I want, not just Barry ;) Leave a comment
> 
> Olivia and Barry's final stop in Europe before making their way to Central City will be in the next chapter


	11. Two weeks

"Do you think we should take his glasses off?" Whispered Anne, a blonde paramedic in her mid-20 as her co-worker, an older and much more experienced man, finished placing an oxygen mask over the face of their young patient.

"It doesn't feel right," answered the second paramedic, glancing down at his patient, it never did feel right to unmask someone who chose to risk his life to protect people. But, to be honest, it was hard to tell if he was even conscious underneath it and they needed all the information they could to correctly treat him, "but we won't have much of a choice, as long as we make sure it stays between us and whoever will take care of him at the hospital."

A weak whisper and moan came from the man on the stretcher. Was that a coincidence that it came at this moment or there were real signs that the man was still conscious? The oxygen mask wasn't helping to understand if any word really got spoken.

"It's ok, you're going to be fine," Anne soothed softly, taking the right hand of the hero between her own. Central City might not have the Flash around these days, but at least they weren't alone. There was some hope back.

A strong voice spoke from behind her had both Anne and her co-worker turning around toward the origin of it, "this one is going to S.T.A.R. Labs," requested the tall black man wearing a long black coat and a black toque while flashing his CCPD badge.

"Sir, that's not how this work. I don't care who you're working for, this man needs medical attention and we're taking him to the hospital." Intervened Anne's co-worker.

"He will receive cares at S.T.A.R. Labs," counter-argued Joe, unsure how he could manage to convince them fast, "I j-"

Before the conversation could escalate, Captain Singh interrupted their argument, appearing behind the officer, "Joe, you mind telling me what's going on here?"

"This man is trying to take our patient," summarized the older paramedic, "he's requesting that we take him to S.T.A.R. Labs instead of the hospital."

Singh's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he turned his attention back to his detective, "is it true?"

Taking a deep inspiration, Joe turned one last time to take a quick look at Cisco but answer to his boss with pleading eyes, "Captain, you have to trust me on this. I promise he will be well taken care of."

So, it was true, but why? Why S.T.A.R. Labs of all places? They helped save Barry when he was in his coma, but what was to say they could help a superhero who almost drowned? Captain Singh looked behind at the group, also taking a quick glance at the fallen hero before reporting his attention to his detective. Could he trust the man? Joe had never let him down before and there was no time to argue.

"Alright, I sure hope you really know what you're doing," the police captain yielded before turning toward the first responders, "do what Detective West requests and take the patient to S.T.A.R. Labs."

"But, sir-" Anne tried to protest.

"I'll take full responsibility if anything happens and I'll call your boss myself in an instant," finished David.

"Thank you, sir," Joe look at his boss, seeing the scepticism in the police captain's eyes who just went against his better judgment by deciding to trust one of his best detectives. A bigger and longer explanation was going to be needed, but not now. It could wait 'til everything was fine again.

"Oh, and Joe-" Singh added before moving away to go check on his reckless CSI, "I think this might belong to him."

It was only now that Joe noticed what his boss was holding; the Vibe's gauntlets. Nodding in confirmation, the detective accepted them quickly, not really caring how they somehow came into Singh's possession. Before moving back to his car to follow the ambulance, Joe tilted his head slightly to the right just enough to get a view of the still hero on the stretcher; Cisco was lying still with his suit completely opened, his shirt ripped off and an oxygen mask on his face. One more hero down... hopefully, Barry would reappear fast enough, alive, and well, to help them deal with their problem.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"How is he?" Worriedly asked Iris as Caitlin was moving out of the medical bay to meet Iris, Joe, and Wally near the door separating the room from the cortex.

"He's not going to be up and vibing around anytime soon-" Caitlin carefully started, turning around to glance at her sleeping friend. The fallen hero was laying down under a lot of heat blanket with a medical clip on his finger to follow his vital signs and a mask on his face to send some warm and moist oxygen in his lungs. An IV was also hooked in the crook of his elbow, "but, he should be ok, eventually. He got lucky."

"What's wrong with him?" Asked Wally.

Caitlin exhaled loudly as she was taking off her medical gloves, what wasn't wrong?

"Due to the extremely low water temperature, the couple of minutes he spent in it sent him straight into hypothermia territory. But, luckily, it's only a mild case, so I'm not worried about that part. What does preoccupy me is how much water he inhaled, I'm concerned the water will irritate his lungs and cause fluids to build inside them," she explained with a sigh.

"And for those of us who didn't go to medical school?" Said Joe, still unsure what all of this was supposed to mean for Cisco's health.

"It could lead to a case of pneumonia," the doctor explained.

"But, he will be ok, right?" Wally reiterated.

"Yeah, he should be fine, eventually. Worst case scenario, it might take a couple of weeks, but I'm cautiously positive he'll make a full recovery. Good thing he was brought back to the shore when he did, he could've sunken at any moment at that point, he was completely out of it. We have Emily to thank for that and we can be grateful she was able to spot them in the water and decided to go in despite the risks of suffering the same fate."

At the same time that she was speaking, Caitlin went to take a seat on the closest chair, already feeling mentally and physically exhausted from her stressful day. And now, the coming night wasn't going to be very relaxing; they still needed to keep a very close eye on Cisco's condition.

Joe nodded in agreement, "yeah, Emily is definitely one courageous young woman. She really wants to help people and she's a great addition to the CCPD."

"How is she, anyway? And the other woman?" Iris asked her father.

"According to what the captain told me, the woman is still in critical condition, but the paramedics managed to get her breathing again on the way to the hospital. For Emily, I heard that she didn't stay long enough in the water to go into hypothermia, but they're keeping her under observation for the night. If everything's good, she should get out tomorrow."

"That's good, for Emily at least," replied Caitlin. Looking at the medbay, the doctor couldn't stop herself from hoping the other woman was going to make it and that Cisco didn't almost die for nothing.

It took many, many hours for Cisco's temperature to return into the normal range and a couple more until he started showing the first signs that he was getting ready to return to the world of the living. It wasn't much at first; it was just his fingers moving slightly and then his head going from one side to the other, but these were all good signs that he was getting better. During the whole night and the following morning, his doctor friend stayed by his side to closely monitor his vitals. It was with determination, and some extra help from an overdose of caffeine, that she managed to keep her vigil 'til it was past sunrise.

Good thing too Cisco wasn't around to witness the Morning News proudly stating that the Meta was right about the Flash probably being dead considering how he still hadn't shown his face yesterday when another innocent life was a stake. Now the journalists were even starting to reconsider the veracity of Iris' article from last October when she related how the speedster saved them all from Hyde when he transported the Fountain far, far away from the town. The damn journalists these days didn't seem to care anymore about the panic they were causing all around. Nor did they care about infuriating the people who know what really happened.

"You should probably stop watching this," recommended Caitlin as she walked into the cortex to witness Iris angrily staring at the screen.

"Yeah, you're probably right," the young woman agreed with a sigh, "and you, you should go get some sleep. You look like you're about to collapse."

Iris was probably right about that, but Caitlin wasn't wanting to abandon her friend.

"I just want to be there when he'll wake up," she weakly argued, "there are fluids building up in his lungs like I feared and I'm trying to give him some medication to fight this," explained Caitlin while letting herself slumped into the closest chair and truly looking completely worn out.

"But you caught it early, so he'll be fine, right?" Caitlin nodded, and Iris turned back her attention to the TV as it was now showing the announcers in their studio with the date and time displaying at the corner of the screen; February 8th, "it's been two weeks…" she noted.

There was no need for Iris to clarify what she was talking about; it's already been two weeks since Barry left on his own to go in a foreign country while promising to come back within that time frame. The fact they hadn't received a single update since that was worrying at best.

"Maybe we should've opened a breach and jumped into it while we still could..." Iris wondered, tilting her head toward the medbay, where their breacher was currently sleeping.

"Maybe... but now Cisco won't be opening any breaches for a while," Caitlin replied, passing a tired hand in her messed-up hair.

True to that... and now their only hope to protect the city was in the hands of Barry. That's if he was still alive.

 _Please, come back to us. Come back to me,_  sadly thought Iris, looking away from her friend to hide the tear shining in the corner of her eyes.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

Entering the old photography studio, Olivia innocently looked around at the framed pictures on the wall. Most of them looked like they had been taken during previous clients' photo session.

"Humm... excuse me, ma'am?" A man's voice said behind her, "but the shop is closing now. You might want to come back tomorrow."

"Do I?" She answered, slowly turning around to reveal her face.

She ended up facing a very small and frail man in his late 30 with a short beard and who dressed in an old, vintage, brown suit.

"You're..." he stammered, instantly recognizing her, already trying to back off.

"Yes, I'm working with Mr. Hyde," she hissed out in a threatening way, "so you better help me again."

"But... but… I he... hea... heard that everyone got killed," he stammered, trying to move away from her a little more, only to get harshly grabbed by the collar by Olivia.

"Maybe I killed them," She suggested, her mysterious smile widening.

That poor man gulped down his saliva, looking so terrified for his life. For one second, Olivia wondered if he had been serving Hyde and his minion under some kind of threat or if he did it for his own profit. Either way, it was too late to back down now from her act. If he really was out there for himself, it was going to be his loss that the organisation was falling apart and if he was really forced to work for them, he would be free as soon as she would walk out of the door. In the second situation, it was a solution where everyone benefited really.

"What do you want?" He finally asked when he found his face barely inches away from the young woman's features.

"What do you think? My friend and I need what you're good at; we need passports to get out of the country," she firmly said.

Seemingly getting back his fear under control, the man clenched his jaw and defied his attacker by looking at her straight in her eyes, "how do I know you're not trying to run away? How do I know one of Mr. Hyde's acolyte isn't going to come after me if I help you?"

Smirking mysteriously, Olivia simply replied, "I wouldn't worry about them now, but, I can't say the same about the Ghost..."

The... Ghost? The realisation hit the shop's owner violently as his wrinkled eyes widened at the name. Oh yeah, he heard about that dangerous speedster's reputation, he had to get away and now!

Too late, as if on cue, a rush of wind and lightning zipped inside and grabbed him for the ride. Well, it probably was on cue to be honest, with every move and word specifically orchestrated to get the desired effect. In the blink of an eye, the man found himself on his building's rooftop in a very delicate situation. Delicate indeed, as his feet were barely touching the edge of the concrete roof while the Ghost had a tight grip on his shirt and was pushing the man's upper body just over the edge while keeping him from falling. The speedster had put on a black hoodie over his shirt, with the hood on, and was vibrating his voice to keep his identity hidden.

"You better give my friends what they want, or..." growled the vibrating and terrifying voice.

To prove his point, not that he really needed to, Barry pushed a little more the man over the edge.

"Don't drop me," Pleaded the scared man, shaking from head to toe, "if I help you against the master's wills, they'll kill me."

"Right now, I'm the one who might kill you," growled Barry, letting go without more warning. It was just for half a second, but it was enough for his hostage to gasp as all the air was rushing out of his lungs in pure terror and for his mouth to gap uselessly in a vain attempt to scream. His reaction was cut short as terror paralysed his vocal cords. That and the fact the speedster grabbed him back before it was too late.

"Please! Please! Put me back up and let me go!" He begged, sweating profusely and sobbing, "I'll do whatever you want, PLEASE!"

Slow clapping in the back was the only answer he got for a second as he only noticed now that Olivia had joined them on the roof. She was standing a little further back with her back comfortably slumped against the concrete wall near the exit door. The young metahuman stopped clapping and slowly approached with a triumphant smile.

"I knew we would come to an understanding. Alright Ghost, let the good man back and go find my friend. I think we'll need to get some work done."

Harshly getting the owner back on the roof, Barry violently threw him to his knees and disappeared... in a flash.

Carefully approaching the kneeling man in the darkness of the night, Olivia knelt down to his level while keeping her act; "now, what do you say you get back to work and have everything ready as fast as you can?"

The man frantically nodded, terrified to death, "please, I'll do it... just don't hurt me or my family."

Olivia's heart clenched in her chest, almost losing the act, and going for the hug as the urge to comfort this poor man almost overwhelmed her. No, she couldn't lose it now. Hopefully, once she was gone, this man and his family will finally be safe and free. Just like she and her speedster friend would finally be free and safe once they would get back to Central City and find the Flash. Everything was almost over, and she would never have to be an accomplice in anything harmful to anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's ready to see Olivia and Barry in Central City in the next chapter?


	12. Chapter 12

Just like she requested, the fake passports for her and her speedster friend were ready pretty quickly, as in within two hours.

"I gotta say, even if threatening that poor man wasn't exactly fun, I must admit that we are making quite the team." Joyfully said Barry, smiling widely as they were walking out of the store with what they came from.

Chuckling, Olivia nodded enthusiastically to approve: "Yup, we're pretty badass together," she said, nicely nudging him.

"I'm glad you came to rescue me from the cave a couple of weeks ago, you really are quite special." Said Barry.

"Don't go all soft on me now, I like it when you're badass.," she teased. " _Right now, I'm the one who might kill me_ ," she added, quoting Barry from earlier with the deepest voice she managed to reach while gesticulating in all directions.

"Ok, first of all I don't sound like that-" protested Barry, halfly insulted, "and what are you even doing with your arms?"

"Come on big boy, you totally sound like that," teased back Olivia, playfully pushing him with her whole body. It instantly caused Barry to lose the frown and start laughing lightly.

Yup, that woman sure was special for some reason.

"Alright, what do you say we find a hotel where we'll book a flight for tomorrow morning and watch some movies to celebrate?" Proposed Olivia who was already taking her phone out to look for the closest and not too expensive hotel she could find around there while she was walking.

"Sound like a plan," agreed Barry. "There better be a pizza included in your plan too!"

Olivia rolled her eyes: "you and your food...what is it with you and always being hungry? Especially considering how much you already ate today."

Barry simply shrugged; he honestly didn't have a single clue on why it was that way. Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that his super hunger appeared at the same time than his powers... Anyway, it didn't matter because tomorrow was gonna be a huge day. Yes, tomorrow they were going to be in the USA, in Central City to be more precise. He had no idea what the next day would bring, but hopefully it would be some new friends oversea. As he kept on walking in the darkness, Barry pressed his right hand against his forehead and almost bit his cheek to suppress any sound of pain. The pain again? He thought these stupid headaches were gone, why were they coming back? Especially now, right as he was thinking about Central city. Could this be a sign that his memories were pushing back? Only time would tell…

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"Take it easy, Cisco, you need to rest." Said Caitlin while gently pushing back her engineer friend back on the pillow.

"C...ool….ld... " He chattered.

The sick hero was weakly trying to push away the ice packs on his body, but only succeeded in having his weak attempt blocked by the doctor.

"That's because you have a fever." Said Caitlin, succeeding in pushing back her friend on the bed. "Just try to relax," she added before pulling back the extremely thin blanket on him and winced in sympathy when Cisco started coughing again. When the coughing fit dissipated, it left greenish mucus in his hand.

"Rest, you should be fine soon enough," gently encouraged Caitlin.

"Must...help. " He said, pitefully. His weak and raspy voice wasn't very convincing.

"No you don't. Joe and the rest of CCPD are on the case, they're gonna stop her," firmly answered Caitlin, keeping a strong hand on the hero's shoulder to ensure he was gonna stay down.

' _I hope they're ok.'_  She added to herself while sitting down on the chair next to the bed, it's been a long while already since an alert started at Iron Height.

"Hate doing noth-" Grumpily tried to say Cisco, only to get interrupted again by his sore throat that forced him to cough twice into his hand in a vain effort to clear his airways.

"You're not doing nothing, you're healing." Clarified Caitlin as she was leaning over to grab the glass of water sitting on the night table, "don't forget to keep hydrated."

"Had enough water for the whole month." Grumbled Cisco, but still gratefully taking the glass.

Caitlin's ringing tone interrupted the conversation and forced her to palpate her pockets in search for her device. Not feeling any bump in there, she started looking all around. Oh, there it was, she somehow left it right next to the computer. Getting up, she gently put a comforting hand on Cisco's shoulder before moving away. Who could this be that late in the night?

The caller ID had Caitlin frowning: Constantine. What was wrong?

"Hello," she instantly said after picking up. "Constantine, what's going on?"

With the corner of her eye, she saw Cisco raising his head up and trying to closely listen to the conversation when he heard the name of the caller.

"I wanted to congratulate young M. Allen, and all of you for the good job you've done in taking down the organisation" said the demonologist on the phone. "I couldn't succeed in reaching M. Allen to congratulate him on the achievement. Great job, mates." he added, sounding quite delighted with whatever he was talking about.

"I'm sorry, I don't follow, " confusely said Caitlin. It's not like they had defeated their Meta the other night, quite the opposite actually, "what are you talking about?"

"The destruction of the cave and M. Hyde's son death. What else would I be talking about, love? " Answered Constantine, genuinely confused, "Mr. Allen did a great job in France, I didn't even know about Hyde having a son until today. But now that both he and his father are dead and the cave is destroyed, their whole organisation is in complete disarray."

Wait, so the mission was a success? For an instant, just one, Caitlin had hope. Barry was finally done and he was probably on his way back at the moment! "When? When did this happen?"

Constantine clearly hesitated: "I don't have all the details, love, you could ask Barry for that. From what I heard, t sound pretty recent, probably a couple of days. Why are you asking?" He answered with his thick British accent.

A couple of days? A couple? Caitlin felt the room temperature dropping; she was suddenly having a very, very bad feeling about this. Why hadn't Barry call already? Or, better, why wasn't he back?

"Barry still hadn't come back...or sent us any kind of message." She finally said, closing her eyes and trying to chase away the image of Barry being wounded, maybe worse, and alone while being so far away from home. What if he was….? No, he couldn't.

"I'm sorry to hear that," carefully said Constantine. Was that an itch of worried in his voice? " I'll look with my contacts in Europe if they can find out what happened with M. Allen." He added.

"Thank you, please call us again if you have anything. Anything at all," requested Caitlin, not even realizing she had unconsciously picked up her pen and was nervously playing with it as the phone call was confirming her fears. They really should've all gone in Europe to help, right from the start.

"I will." Assured the demonologist not that long before both people hanged up. Could they really consider Barry missing? Since everything was done, he would have contacted them already, unless something really bad unfolded…

"Cait, what's going on with Barry?" Slowly pronounced Cisco, not without difficulty.

"It's-"

Saved by the bell, or more like saved by Joe entering the room and looking completely worn out: "She's in the wind. Our drowning killer is in the wind and she managed to free Geomancer and Peek-a-boo while she was at it." Announced Joe.

Oh great, things just went from bad, to really really bad.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

It was while adjusting the backpack on her back and taking a deep breath that Olivia stepped out of the custom zone walking side by her friend They did it, they were finally in Central City and she just couldn't wait to get outside and see the scenery. It's been so long since she left her hometown. Sure, not all memories here were good, but she grew up in this town and she wouldn't want to come back to any other place.

Out of the blue, Barry turned toward her and broke the silence by asking a question that had been buzzing him for hours now:

"I gotta ask; what really happened to the hand you cut when you were taking care of me in the house? You said it was from cooking, but I somehow don't believe you"

Olivia chuckled, where was that question coming from? She had to admit, it was a legitimate one; "you're right, you shouldn't believe me. I actually got that wound when I went back to the cave to see if I could salvage anything inside. That's how I got Alex's phone and how I knew when Hyde would come. I slipped and opened my hand on a pointy rock. "

"And when you said I wasn't too badly injured when the cave collapsed….?"

Olivia winced for a moment before answering, truthfully this time:

"It was….pretty bad actually," she admitted while walking out of the restricted zone with Barry. "You had some bad internal bleeding and pierced organs, it took me a great deal of energy to save your life and you still developed a bad fever and infection despite my efforts."

"You're amazing. You know that, right?" Gently said Barry, smiling despite the knot in his stomach. What was awaiting him on the other side of the entry's doors of the airport? Were they really going to find Flash? Was he going to help them or attack them?

As they were striding along and passing past the registration desks, a man's voice arguing with an airline employee caught Barry's attention:

"What do you mean there's no place left? Find one." Said the man.

From the sound of it, all of this commotion was fairly close to Barry and Oliva's location. There it was, Barry finally found the source and it was caused by a distressed tall black man in a long black coat and a black toque. Barry couldn't quite see the man's full face, just the side of it, but he found himself unable to look away from the scene:

"Sir, if you don't lower your tone I will need to call the security," calmly answered the employee in front of the man.

"You don't get it, my son is over there, he needs me," pleaded the man.

"Sir, I'm sorry for whatever your situation is, but we can't just invent a new place. I told you moments ago there was a flight tomorrow afternoon I can put you on."

Despite his best mental efforts, for some unknown reason, Barry just couldn't detach his eyes from the situation happening barely a couple of feet away from him. The young speedster even stopped walking before he was out of eavesdrop distance.

"Hey, Henry, you ok?" Softly asked his companion as she grabbed his arm and turned her head in the same direction than the speedster to listen to the commotion too. "These things happen all in the time in an airport, come on, let's go."

Was he ok? Barry slightly shook his head before answering: "I don't know...I just had this weird feeling that I need to go help that man and comfort him."

Olivia nodded in understanding and gently rubbed her friend's back a couple of times: "I get you; that poor man….he does sound desperate. I hope he's going to find his son."

"Me too. Is it weird that I just have the urge to go see and hug him?" Answered Barry, half-joking. He really was having these urges. He really was feeling like rushing in there and wrapping his arms around that stranger like there was this weird connection between them. Could it be…?

"You're just a kind person, Henry, and you want to help people. I've seen you do it a couple of times already." Said Olivia, interrupting the man's thoughts. "But in this case there's nothing you can do, come on." She added, taking Barry's arm once again and delicately putting back into movement.

"You're probably right." Agreed Barry, turning his back on the scene and putting his hood over his head to prepare to face the cold outside as he was heading toward the exit door.

"What do you say we go find something to eat and drink first before starting our search?" Suggested Olivia.

"Sure, following you." Agreed Barry, opening the door and gently inviting Olivia to go first. Gratefully smiling, the woman went, but not without taking one last look at the man searching for his son.

Doing so, Barry completely missed Joe turning around on his heels with his blood pumping fast in his veins. For one second, just one, he thought he saw his boy right around the corner and heard his voice. Scrutinizing the crowd of people moving around and minding their own business, he desperately looked everywhere for Barry. But, the hero was nowhere to be found. His mind was playing tricks on him, again. Joe's eyes caught sight of a young blond woman that was looking straight at him from the exit door, but he dismissed it and sighed. She probably just was someone being curious about the scene he just made.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"Here we go! I was hoping this place was still around," exclaimed Olivia as she and Barry stepped out of the bus in front of CCJitters. "It's freezing, let's go inside and quick," she added before quickening the pace and laughing like an overly excited child.

She just felt so free and could barely contain herself from gamboling all the way to the entrance. Why shouldn't she be happy? No more sleeping on a carpet in frisky cave and no more living under the yoke of monsters using her for their own biddings; she was back home with the best of companion she ever had.

"You're coming?" She said, stopping, once she realized Barry had suddenly immobilized himself to stare blankly inside through the window. "You're ok?"

Instead of answering, her friend back off by a couple of feet and out of sight from the people inside.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Worriedly asked Olivia.

Frowning, she rushed back to her friend's side and gently pressed her hands on his right shoulder, instantly feeling the tremors in the man's body despite the double layer of clothes underneath the blonde's delicate hand.

"It's...it's her." He said, pointing through the window while trying his best to avoid being seen.

"Who's her?" Asked Olivia, frowning in confusion and daring to take a peek inside too.

"The brunette, waiting at the counter, it's her. It's Snow. She's the Flash's acolyte!" Said Barry with shaking bottom lip as he took a couple more steps back, slowly but surely redirecting himself toward the dark alley.

"That's great! " Exclaimed Olivia, looking at the window and spotting the young woman with long and curly brown hair silently looking at her phone while waiting for her order , "now we know for sure she's ok. You didn't kill her and she can help us."

"Go ahead, I'll wait for you."

For one second, Olivia thought about pushing the matter, but decided against it. It wasn't worth fighting over: "Alright, stay there, I'll come pick you up in a moment."

Leaving the speedster behind, Olivia carefully walked back to the front door and opened it. There she was, Caitlin Snow, the woman her friend had been talking about, she was just a couple of feet in front of her and paying for many cups of coffee.

"Humm...Miss Snow?" She timidly asked, moving forward to greet her.

Turning around at the sound of her name, Caitlin carefully examined the woman from head to toe, concentrating a moment on her features.

"Who's asking?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, Miss Snow, but I'm searching for the Flash."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I just end this on a cliff...again? I wouldn't dare, right ? ;)
> 
> Leave a comment


	13. It's Barry!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact everyone; the airport scene is actually one of the very first one I wrote for that story, before Wounds of the Spirit was even finished

Caitlin flinched slightly but kept her composure and a neutral expression. Why would a stranger come to her, in particular, to talk about The Flash? "Aren't we all?" She answered, shrugging in an attempt to dismiss the issue. Not really in the mood to stay much longer, the doctor tried to move around her young interlocutor to head toward the exit but got cut off by Olivia who placed herself in the doctor's path once more.

"Please, I know you're working with him. I have to see him. I need to see him," pleaded Olivia, unwilling to let slip the only clue she had to find Flash.

Caitlin frowned, how much did that young woman already know? Was she dangerous? Nervously playing with the cup holder with her fingers and biting her bottom lip, Caitlin was working hard to stay impassive, "why would I, of all people, be working with The Flash?" She asked innocently.

"I just know. Please, let him know that I wanna help him do some good in the city," the young blonde tried again.

Just for one moment, Caitlin seemed like she was considering her options before she ended up giving a soft, but sad smile, "I really can't help you, but I wish you find what you want," she added again before getting ready to move away and out of the coffee shop.

Seeing that Caitlin was about to leave, Olivia rushed to the counter to swiftly snatch a napkin and a pen and quickly scrawled her phone number before handing the napkin to the other woman.

"There, if you change your mind, just call me, alright?"

Taking the cup holder in one hand, Caitlin hesitated an instant before taking what was being handed to her and put it in her pocket. The disappointment could be read all over Olivia's face as the slightly older woman headed out and disappeared out of sight, what if she wasn't going to hear anything back? A strange feeling was spreading inside of her, what had she done? She should've thought of her approach before desperately jumping into that woman's path like a teenager seeing her favourite rock star walking down the street. If Olivia was in the brunette's position, she probably wouldn't have given anything away either. Overly discouraged, the young blonde walked out of the shop, dragging her feet.

As she came back outside, a groan of pain instantly earned her attention, a groan that she knew way too well, "Henry?" she called out. Everything else forgotten, for the moment, she started sprinting toward the alley near the entrance, calling out for her speedster's friend, "Henry! You okay?"

Her friend was heavily leaning against the wall with his left side while holding his head with his opposite hand, "my head..." he groaned with difficulty.

Olivia grimaced in sympathy and worry, "I thought your head was better."

"It was," protested Barry while pressing his palm harder against his forehead. Ever since that brunette passed right in front of him, a hammer had been viciously assaulting his skull. Quick flashes of the moment he attacked her were invading his mind once again and were firmly refusing to go away.

"Come on, I got you," Oliva moved forward, taking a firm grab at Barry's right arm and pulled it over her shoulders. Their search and the food would need to wait 'til the speedster was better. She started walking out of the alley and onto the street while partly dragging the speedster, "let's find you someplace to rest and I'll see if I can do something for your headache."

None of them noticed the S.T.A.R. labs van passing by as both young Metas were drunkenly walking toward the bus stop.

When Caitlin entered back the lab, she absentmindedly put down the cup holder on the cortex's main desk and next to the person sitting on the chair. With her mind still replaying what just unfolded, pondering whether or not it was worth investigating, it took her a moment to realize who was sitting in that chair and when she did, she instantly frowned:

"Shouldn't you be in bed?' She growled at her engineer friend who was uncomfortably installed in the chair with a blanket draped over his shoulders. Cisco looked miserable with his reddish cheek and the sweat covering most of his uncovered skin. Plus, on top of that, he had his deep nasty cough. On the bright side, maybe his state was going to make him gain some sympathy points.

"Was bored out of my mind," protested Cisco, his throat still sore and scratchy.

"For the record-" Iris piped up from the other side of the room where she sat side by side with her brother, "we warned him you wouldn't be too happy about it."

The doctor stared at Cisco who stayed silent while doing his best impression of the puppy eyes for many seconds, expecting to be sent back to the medbay in an instant. Surprisingly, the doctor quickly yielded, "fine, you can stay up for an hour or two, I might actually need a little help from you," she added, taking a seat.

"Oki," that was easy, really easy. Too easy. Something was definitely off and Cisco wasn't the only one who noticed it.

"What's wrong?" Iris inquired, joining Caitlin and Cisco behind the computers.

"I'm not sure just yet if something is wrong," she paused just long enough for her companion to look at her suspiciously, but not long enough for any of them to ask more question, "I had a weird encounter at Jitters. There was this young woman who knew my name and was convinced I was working with the Flash."

Taking a step forward, Iris worriedly scanned her friend from head to toe as in she was looking for any sign of battle or injury, suddenly anxious about this new situation. If it wasn't for his brain working in slow motion at the moment, Cisco would've probably done the same.

"Are you okay, did she attack you?" Asked Wally.

"That's just the thing, I don't think she wanted to hurt me, she looked genuinely interested in finding The Flash and it didn't look like it was for some ominous reason. That said, looks can be deceiving," explained Caitlin, taking a seat behind the computers, "we need to figure out who she is, what she wants and where she got her information."

"I can do this. Just let me hack into the recordings of Jitters' security cameras," rasped Cisco while getting his arms out of the warm blanket to start typing on the computer.

"If you can find a clear shot of her face, we could use the facial recognition software to find who she is and where she is now," said Iris, earning a nod of approval from Caitlin who was thinking about the same thing.

"Let's check the footage," said Cisco, typing at a slower than usual pace 'for a minute or two 'til he finally managed to hack into the security footage of the outside camera without a hitch. It wasn't long before the young hero managed to find his friend coming out of the coffee shop with a puzzled expression on her face.

"It's her," exclaimed Caitlin, moments later, when a young blonde with a long braid quickly exited too and started frantically rushing toward the alley that wasn't that far from the entrance.

"She looks pretty young," observed Iris when they managed to actually see her face, "that's a good shot out of her."

It really was. Whoever she was, she wasn't exactly being careful and caring about being seen or not by the security cameras considering how she faced one directly.

"It is. Now that I have her features registered in the system, let me compare it to the CCPD database first see if we can find a match. Hopefully, we'll find one," said Cisco who slowly moved his chair and body toward the second computer to start a search while letting the recording play on the first one. With the attention of the two scientists turned to the second computer, carefully watching the ongoing search in the database, they stopped monitoring the security footage. They probably should've. Both friends missed the way Iris' lips parted while her eyes widened at the screen. Was she seeing things? Was she so desperate to see him back, safe and sound, that she was seeing him everywhere?

"Humm...guys? Is it me or that person she's meeting with always look like-" that person came out of the shadow as Iris was speaking, being supported by their mystery young woman. As he came out of the alley and passed in front of the camera, the face under the hood became visible, causing Iris to instantly freeze, "oh my-"

"-my God," Caitlin completed for her, "it's Barry!"

It was like a shockwave just passed in the lab. Barry was alive, possibly hurt considering the footage, but alive, and he was back in town. He came back, with a stranger, without telling his friends and was back at hiding from them.

"How's… I don't... what…" stuttered Iris. What the hell was going on?

"I think you might want to call your father," Cisco said to Iris, even if he was unable to detach his eyes from the screen which he froze at the exact frame. How? Just... how? it couldn't be. Was he under a spell again? Or prisoner by this young person? They needed to find out what was going on and rescue him, the sooner the better.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"He was right there. Right THERE under my nose. and I couldn't save him," Grumbled Joe, clearly frustrated as he kept on staring at the security footage they managed to find of his son and that woman walking out of their airport, "I knew I've seen him there, I should've trusted my instincts. How come nobody had a facial recognition alert set for Barry in Central City?" He asked the scientists behind the desk with a distinct accusing tone toward. His agitated eyes fell on poor Cisco who looked too sick and tired, literally, to defend himself.

"Dad!" Protested Iris, uncrossing her arms that had been glued on her chest while the team had been struggling to track their friend's movement, "don't take it out on Cisco, there's no way he could've he known Barry would come back without telling us, plus -"

"-he's sick, I know, I'm sorry I snapped," Joe apologized before rubbing his forehead. His words went further than his thoughts on this. If he wanted to solve this, he really needed to calm down and start thinking straight.

"What are we thinking?" Wally inquired, "is Barry being controlled again? Is he under that same spell? Or is that person threatening him, so he doesn't contact us?"

"I knew I should've gone after him the second I felt he was in trouble!" Grumbled Joe with a hint of anger in his voice as he was containing himself not to hit the closest desk he could find.

"Forget about that, we never should've let him go to Europe on his own in the first place," weakly whispered Cisco, exhaling loudly.

"Alright, we're jumping to conclusions here," intervened Caitlin to calm the speculations and what-ifs, "we don't know what's going on just yet and we don't know much about that woman. In both footage we managed to gather, it didn't look like she was trying to hurt Barry in any way. Quite the contrary, at Jitters, it looked like she was helping him," argued Caitlin, playing devil's advocate.

Placing his hands on his hips, Joe took a deep breath and did his best to relax and clear his mind. Caitlin was right; they needed to take a breather and attack this problem in a rational and thoughtful way, just like it was any other case.

"What do we know about her?" Wally asked, turning at Caitlin and Cisco as the engineer was putting a CCPD mugshot of the woman on the screens.

"Her name is Olivia Woodward, 20 years old and she got arrested multiple times for petty crimes; mos... mos… tl-" tried Cisco, interrupting himself to violently cough into his sleeve and prompting Caitlin to move over and gently rub her friend's back.

"Hey, hey, easy there," gently said Caitlin before taking over and reading the file CCPD has on her: "she was mostly stealing food and cars. She managed to escape the Juvenile rehabilitation centre in the fall of 2014, not long before her eighteenth birthday and hadn't been seen since. Her parents had been looking for her and filing reports since early 2015."

"Wait... why the delay between the time she escaped and the when her parents started getting involved in her missing case?" Asked Joe, frowning. Petty crimes or not, he hated the idea of a parent being so uncaring for their children for so long… but not all parents were as caring and loving as he was. It was a cruel world out there.

"The online file doesn't seem to say, but they've apparently put quite the effort to find her since that moment," Caitlin replied as she was quickly going over the summarize information she had.

"Why are we thinking here? Had she taken Barry hostage? How do we find them?" Wally asked once again.

"Finding her should be quite easy. I do have her number, remember?" Said Caitlin before taking out of her vest pocket the napkin the young woman handed her over at the coffee, "we just need to set up a meeting and get ready."

"We'll have to hope that she brings Barry along, considering how she's been keeping him hidden," stated Joe who moved around to look back at the surveillance from the airport. He had been so close, so damn close to his son, how could he have missed him? If he hadn't, Barry would be home right now. If only Joe had snatched him away from this woman's grasp and from whatever she had on him at the moment.

"Do we think she's a Meta?" Asked Iris. How else could she be controlling Barry?

"We need to get ready in case she is, better be safe than sorry if we want to bring Barry back," said Caitlin, nervously looking around in search of ideas to make a trap in case they were dealing with a dangerous Meta. Considering Cisco was pretty sick, they needed to be extra careful with their next move.

"I'm coming along, just in case she is," said Joe, "let's bring the B.O.O.T. to make sure she cannot escape. I'm not losing my son for another month. I'm not losing him for another day, period."

"Let's take her and after we can figure out what she'd done to Barry and where she's keeping him. And you, mister, back to bed," added Caitlin, pointing out at her exhausted friend, "we have this."

Silently agreeing about being completely worn up, Cisco nodded, "just bring him back," he whispered.

"We will," promised Joe, determination burning brightly in his eyes.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"Okay, all right… yeah... I'll be there… alright. You said at 3 pm, right? All right thank you again," Olivia spoke enthusiastically, nodding to the cell phone before hanging up and taking a look back at the scribbles she had been writing on a piece of paper.

The second she hung up the phone, Barry started moving into a semi-seated position on the covers of his bed while still holding the wet washcloth on his forehead, preventing it to fall.

"Don't keep me hanging, when do we meet her?" He quickly asked, excited. The speedster sat up so fast that he almost knocked over the empty Big Belly Burger bag he left on the bed earlier.

"She said I can meet her at her work during her break, I'm supposed to go over to S.T.A.R. Labs in a couple of hours. Apparently, she has some information that she wants to share but that she couldn't do on the phone," she exclaimed, barely controlling herself from jumping all over the place, literally. She was soon going to meet The Flash, the one person like her who knew how to help her. It seemed like every piece of her life were finally coming together.

Barry couldn't stop himself from chuckling at the sight, he could totally see the efforts his companion was doing to stay as still as possible. Maybe it would've visually looked better to start running than to just stay in one place and twirl all over the place, "that sounds great, good luck."

Coming back to reality and locking inside her inner fangirl, Olivia became serious again, "you really think we can trust her?"

Barry nodded without hesitation, "I have a very good feeling about her. I can't explain why, but I just do."

"Alright, I'll trust you on that one," she answered, reassured. If Henry was sure of this, then she was safe to go ahead. Putting down her cell on the table, she jumped on the bed to join her friend. Crawling on the covers, she quickly ended up right next to him and she sat on her heels, "want me to try to ease your headache?" she inquired, already flashing her glowing hands.

"It's okay, it's already better," it truly was better than earlier, even if it still felt like a huge party was going on in his head. Barry couldn't bring himself to admit that part aloud, fearing Olivia would leave him alone on her way to meet that Miss Snow. He needed to see her and get to S.T.A.R. for some unknown reason.

Feeling safe and sound for the first in... forever, really, Olivia put a stop to her powers and relaxed. Stretching her long legs, she allowed herself to lay down next to Barry and let her head slowly go down on her friend's shoulder. Deeply breathing in her newly acquired freedom, she allowed herself to close her eyes and believe that nothing and no one would ever hurt her again.

"If you're not up to it, you don't have to come. I can handle myself," she whispered softly without opening her eyes.

"Don't worry about me, it's okay, I want to come. And if something does happen, I wanna be there to protect you like you did for me."

Snorting up just a little, Olivia slumped a bit more and playfully added, "awww, my knight in shining armour."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment, always so deeply appreciated
> 
> Who's excited for the reunion between Team Flash and Barry?


	14. Him

Both young friends took a well-deserved nap next to each other 'til it was time to leave for their destination; S.T.A.R. labs. For the occasion, Olivia was wearing a new pair of faded jeans and a nice looking black and pale grey plaid shirt underneath her beige coat. When the imposing building came into sight as their bus made the final turn on his way to the destination, Barry felt a shiver passing in his spine. It was so...  _familiar_ , so  _safe_... it almost felt like home. Why was that? It suddenly hit him now, maybe Olivia wasn't the only one coming back home. He could feel it in his guts, literally, and it was painful. Unless that sensation was just the extra fries he took before coming. Whatever it was, Barry just couldn't shake that feeling away as they got out of the bus and as he took position a little farther back from the meeting scene. The speedster positioned himself right under the concrete pillars holding the elevated part of the road and next to the stairs placed on the flanks of the huge laboratory as Olivia was climbing these stairs up. Slowly, but surely, the young Meta headed straight to the brunette woman in the long and pale coat waiting for her at the top, all on her own with her curly hair hanging over her shoulders.

Neither Olivia nor Barry spotted Joe who was hidden behind the glass doors while holding the B.O.O.T. The detective was ready to jump on the blonde woman at any moment. All of Olivia's attention was on the woman waiting for her as she was awkwardly extending her right arm to shake the brunette's hand way before she was at the right distance, all too caught up in the excitement.

"Miss Snow, I'm so glad you contacted me, I was afraid you wouldn't."

Biting her lips, Caitlin nodded while throwing almost imperceptible glances at the building where, she knew, her team was waiting for the signal. Seeing a quick glimpse of her teammates on the other side of the glass doors, she reached out to shake the younger woman's hand.

"Thank you for coming, Miss..." Caitlin suspended her sentence, knowing how suspicious it would be to know Olivia's full name considering they never truly introduced themselves at Jitter.

"Oh, just call me Olivia," quickly answered the young woman while putting back a loose hair back behind her ear, "you said you had information you wanted to share."

"Alright, Olivia, first I need to know where you got your own information. Who told you I knew anything about the Flash?" Caitlin asked carefully, trying to find the perfect balance between getting information while not sounding too threatening.

Except, her interlocutor wasn't stupid, not even a little. Olivia wouldn't have survived so long on her own and under Hyde's command if she was. Even with her excitement going on, she could feel the tension in the air and see the little glances Caitlin was throwing.

"What's going on?" Nervously asked Olivia, who started looking around while trying to back off a little.

The instant she tried making a move, doors opened, and people quickly approached, both in front and behind her.

"You betrayed me!" She growled in a threatening way while pointing an accusing finger at Caitlin. Moving her head around a little, she glanced at the tall black man who was approaching the brown-haired person's position with a huge gun in his arms, "you! You were the guy from the airport!"

"Where's is he? What have you done with him?" Joe Asked, fire in his eyes.

"What have you done with Barry?" Firmly repeated Caitlin.

"Barry?" Confusedly repeated Olivia while looking back for a way out of this situation. There was a woman with dark skin and long dark hair just behind her who was standing side by side with a taller and a young black man. Both were blocking her retreat, "I don't know what you're talking about!" She protested, feeling her heart painfully hammering in her chest.

 _Run away, Henry,_  she thought, hoping her friend wasn't going to jump into the trap but opt to take off. He may have powers, but what if these people were prepared for that too? Where was the Flash anyway? He was probably waiting right around the corner, waiting for his adversary to reveal his position.

"Tell us where you're holding him, and we won't hurt you," growled Joe while taking a step forward and aiming his gigantic looking weapon.

Emotions came rushing in for the young woman who took another step back and clenched her fists. She needed to protect Henry, she needed to get out of there and to keep him safe. Her powers started flowing through her fingers and it wasn't the nice and comforting warn she was used to; it was real tickling and painful heat. Olivia could feel the fire burning in every part of her body, especially her hands.

"She's a Meta, careful!" Shouted the black young man behind her, causing Olivia to suddenly look down and gasp at the sight; her hands weren't glowing from the normal slight shade of blue. No, instead they were flashing under a very dark shade of purple.

"STOP!" Screamed a too familiar voice, just as yellow lightning surged in and made a quick stop in front of her, "please, don't hurt her! I surrender!" Screamed, pleaded, Barry while looking around at all the faces.

"Barry!" Screamed all their opponent in unison. Well, at least all the ones that weren't too busy gasping. What the hell was going on? Why was he protecting her like that?

The brunette was the first one to take a step forward, extending her arm toward the speedster and making eye contact with him for a fraction of a second. Whatever it was, the reaction she was hoping for, it didn't look like it was the one she got. Her pure shocked expression was telling it all. In the next instant, Barry's knees hit the ground. His face was pale as a sheet as he took his head between his hands and started screeching in what sounded like pure agony.

"Henry! Stop hurting him!" Shouted Olivia, almost letting her guard down as all her instinct were screaming to go kneel next to her friend. It wasn't at ALL how she imagined this meeting taking place.

Whatever was happening only got worse as the speedster shouted ever louder before falling on his side, jostling, and shaking like a fish out of the water. Was he having a seizure?!

"Barry!" Shouted the dark skin woman behind who abandoned her position and took off running before her companion could do a single thing.

Swiftly turning on her heels, Olivia strategically divided her weight on her feet to take a defensive position between the woman coming at her and Henry. She was going to defend her friend with her bare fists if it was what it was going to take. Except, before a real battle could start, a detonation made itself heard and something tightened itself around her right leg. Shouting in shock and in pain from a small electric current suddenly burning her whole body, Olivia went to her knees. What the hell was that? Something else had changed and having looked at her hands, Olivia instantly understood what it was. Her hands were back to normal and it was impossible to charge them again, she was powerless and defenceless!

Her stomach turned upside down; she was a prisoner again and was going to lose Henry forever. No no no!

Probably realizing the battle was over, the brunette quickly covered the remaining distance between herself and Barry before taking him by the shoulders and dragging him a couple of feet away from the defenceless meta. The speedster's jostling had diminished to moderate and occasional tremors, but his groans were continued, even after the woman's powers had been dampened.

"What are you doing to him?" Accused the brunette with her glance alarmingly going up and down between the Meta woman and the speedster, "how are you doing this without your powers‽" She said.

"Me?! I'm not the one doing anything!" How dare they accuse her of hurting her friend? She never would, he meant too much to her. He practically was her brother!

"Take her out of here!" Ordered the gruff voice of the older man with the beard when Barry's shaking suddenly increased with renewed intensity, "she's hurting him!"

"HENRY!" She roared at the top of her lungs just before a small sting sensation was felt on her neck. Reaching the point of contact, she took out a small dart.

"What the-" Olivia tried to say, barely hearing the voices anymore. In the next instant, she felt the gravity claim the rest of her body and she joined her friend on the concrete. That was it, it was the end... for her and Henry. The last thing she heard was voices screaming again and again. As darkness was taking over, the speedster came back into her field of vision one last time as his mouth opened for another scream of anguish.

"BARRY!" Shouted the voices one last time as the whole world fell into oblivion.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

Returning inside the medical bay, Joe found his daughter in the exact same place he left her; sitting in silence by the speedster's bedside where she was holding Barry's right hand while gently stroking the back of it with her thumb. Just behind her, Cisco was, unsurprisingly, still awake in his own bed and fighting off sleep to keep watch over his best friend's sleep. The young metahuman needed to make sure Barry was ok before allowing his exhausted body to get back to sleep. At least, the speedster's face wasn't shaking nor grimacing in pain anymore, he finally managed to find a peaceful state of sleep. Fearing he would disturb the peace and quiet of the scene, the detective just stood there and observed in silence for many moments, until Caitlin entered the room behind while holding her tablet. Intensively looking down at her electronic device, she almost bumped into the man.

"Hey, how's Barr?" He finally asked, breaking the silence.

It was only at this instant that both Iris and Caitlin realized his presence in the room as the detective's daughter turned her head around while the doctor looked up from her tablet.

"Still sleeping," quickly answered Caitlin who looked back down at her device to switch the results from the ones currently displaying to go back to Barry's, already knowing what the next question would be about.

"You found out what's wrong with him, yet?"

Yup, it was the one she was waiting for. Of course, it would be that question; "from the tests I did, I can't find any physical injury or anything abnormal in his blood. The only thing that popped is a really increased mental activity, especially in his hippocampus, his neocortex, and his amygdala," explained Caitlin.

"Okay..." Joe frowned as he was definitely getting anxious about the possible implications, "and what does it mean in English? Does he have some kind of brain problem? Is he sick?"

Realizing how worrying it could be for someone with limited medical knowledge to hear all these scary terms being used to describe the condition of a loved one, especially one who just had a seizure, Caitlin quickly dismissed any misunderstood, "it's not what you think. On their own, these parts of the brain can be related to many different things, but together they're mostly associated with memories. Long-term memories to be more precise."

Taking a shaky breath, Joe wiped away the newly formed sweat on his forehead, "alright, so let me rephrase that. Should we get prepared for any kind of damages when he'll wake up? And, when is he going to wake up?"

Because, yes, he was going to come back to them. A coma wasn't an option at all. Thankfully, Caitlin was able to reassure him on that one thing.

"He'll wake up, I'm sure of it. But, for the when part, your guess is as a good as mine. It might take a minute or an hour... or he might not wake up 'til tomorrow morning. The good news is that I can't seem to find any kind of damage, but we'll need to wait for him to come back to us to be sure he's okay… I'm sorry," she apologized, hating how she always seemed to be the bringer of bad news. It was in these kinds of situations that she hated being the doctor.

"It's okay, don't apologize, I know you're doing your best," answered Joe while putting a brave smile on his face and putting a comforting hand on her shoulders.

"How's our new guest? That... Olivia," asked Iris, deciding to join the conversation. If that woman was the reason behind Barry's seizure and overall suffering, it wasn't going to get pretty. Especially considering everything he had already endured in the last year or so.

"She's still out for the count. I'm not expecting her to wake up anytime soon with the dose of sedative we gave her," said Joe while scanning around for a chair he could take and drag toward his son's bedside.

Caitlin bit her lips and switched back the test results to the last one she was checking when she entered the medbay, "I wouldn't be so sure about that if I was you."

Joe frowned, "how so?"

"There," said the doctor, switching to the visual 3D animation of the woman's cells replicating, "the blood sample I took from her showed that her cells are rapidly regenerating," seeing how Iris and Cisco were badly twisting their head in the direction, Caitlin turned around to allow them to see it too.

For the untrained eyes, it sure looked a hell lot like Barry's cells and it quickly led Iris to make what seemed like an obvious conclusion, "She's a speedster?"

Caitlin sightly shook her head as she put the tablet down on the closest desk, "I don't…. think so," she dismissed the reporter's conclusion, "if she was, she would've escaped us when she had the chance and I've yet to see Barry's hands glow the way hers did. Plus, I've already checked just to be certain and I can't find any trace of the SpeedForce in her, but I can confirm there is dark matters in her cells. Not that we didn't know that."

She spotted Cisco who was weakly trying to open his mouth to speak up, but his question got stolen by Joe, "okay... so, what's her power? What was she trying to do with her hands?"

Caitlin shrugged, "I'm not sure, we'll have to wait 'til she's awake."

Joe took a quick look at his watch and exhaled deeply while his glance moved between the sleeping hero to the exit door and back. If Olivia was regenerating so fast, possibly just as fast as Barry, she was probably about to wake up, so he might have to go check on the girl sooner than he thought after all. It probably was for the best, the sooner they could get their answers, the better. Plus, he probably still had some time before the station was going to call him up with an I.D. on the new water Meta or the location of where she was hiding with her new friends she freed from Iron Heights. Until then, there wasn't much more he could do.

"Alright, I'll go check on her, just in case," he needed answers and he needed them now. They all did, "just tell me when he'll wake up," he requested before leaving the room. He was gone so fast that he didn't even see Caitlin agreeing to his request by a nod.

Good thing he made the decision of coming back down because, indeed, the woman was awake now and sitting in the back of her cell.

The instant the big blue door got lifted and revealed Joe standing on the other side of the glass, Olivia jumped to her feet and stumbled for a couple of steps before regaining her balance. Once solid on her legs, she went to press the palms of both of her hands against the glass door.

"Where is he? Where's Henry?" Was her first question and her main concern now and she wasn't even trying to hide the concern in her voice.

Henry? As in the name Barry picked for his passport? Is that why she thought it was Barry's first name? Should he correct her on that? It was probably smart to try and see first what exactly that woman knew before giving all the information. Joe stayed silent for a couple of seconds and crossed his arms over his chest, looking threatening. Sighing, Olivia sadly bowed her head down, what if her friend got hurt, or worse, by coming here?

"What did you do to Ba...him?" He interrogated, almost slipping out Barry's complete name despite his initial decision against it. Beginner's mistake. His foster son's condition was weighing too heavily on his mind to think about anything else, maybe an interrogation at that moment wasn't the best timing.

Growling in frustration, Olivia closed her eyes and punched the glass door with her right hand. What were they accusing her of? What had she done? What had they done? But, wait… did that man just say Bar, as in Barry? The name these people were screaming at the meeting? What if? Oh. My... Olivia's eyes snapped opened and her lips parted at the thought that hit her like a runaway train. Could it be? Everything was making sense; how did she miss that? Henry, or Barry, whatever his real name was, he was Him. He was The Flash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As my amazing Beta put it ''And another dun dun duh.'' ;) Ahah
> 
> Leave a comment and get ready for Barry talking to his team in the next chapter.


	15. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry wakes up and get reunited with his friends and family

Olivia's legs were shaking under the weight of her emotions. Everything was in front of her eyes, how did she miss the connection? Everything she witnessed and found out online; the Flash disappearing before the summer, Barry showing up as a prisoner and getting tortured, the Ghost showing up not that long after. She should've seen it coming the instant she realized her friend had the same powers as Flash. That and his desire to help people or his guilt, the dread, of having possibly hurt that brunette.

Despite her piercing green eyes staring at the blue floor, she wasn't seeing a thing. Her whole mind was too occupied, or more like preoccupied, by everything she'd seen or heard in the last couple of weeks. So, where was he? Where was her friend? Were they really inside Flash's base? If so, chances where he was fine. Still, she needed to make sure of that. Calming her nerves, Olivia straightened herself and let go of the door, her mind as clear as it could possibly be under the circumstances.

"Look, I just need to see him, I need to know that he's okay," she asked with pleading eyes.

Joe wouldn't be a very good detective if he didn't see the dissonance between the conclusion he jumped to in his minds, the ones everyone in the team jumped to, and what he was seeing with his own two eyes. He wasn't thinking clearly about this case, how could he? It's true, they still hadn't seen the girl do anything bad and she couldn't have used any powers against Barry while being attached on the B.O.O.T. That was without mentioning how sincere she sounded at the moment. If it wasn't for all the up and down and the deception they went through in the last couple of months, he might've actually opened the door on the spot.

"All right," he yielded, bringing himself to the same calm and open-minded tone as his interlocutor, "what really happened between you and him?"

Nothing to lose at listening what she had to say with his mind wide-open.

"Look, when the cave collapsed, he got injured and lost all his memories. I took him with me, took care of him-" Olivia began in the best way she could while being careful with the details. She still needed to know who she could or couldn't trust. She was still a prisoner after all.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"Cait-" Cisco's voice called out to his friend who was sitting behind her desk, working on scrutinizing every single detail of the test result.

Even if the doctor was barely a couple of feet away, she didn't hear a single thing considering how the weak engineer voice was at the moment, barely above a whisper. He could forget about calling out for Iris who was back in the cortex, completely out of his reach.

"Cait!" He tried, louder, even if it meant straining his sick voice that got back at him by sending him back into a nasty coughing fit. Sadly, or maybe it was a good thing, his choking was the one sound that finally caught Caitlin's attention and made her turn around.

"Hey, shouldn't you be trying to sleep?" She softly said, "I know you are wo-"

"Barry," he interrupted while pointing at the speedster who was moving his head on one side, then the other, shaking, "I think he's waking up."

The doctor's breath got caught in her throat as she swiftly jumped to her feet, "Barry?" she questioned while hurrying to the speedster's bedside, "hey, can you hear me? Barry?" She tried again, gently touching his arm and getting instantly rewarded when Barry stopped moving around and faced her, even with his eyes still closed "Barry? You with us?" She repeated.

Barry's arm that wasn't being grabbed by the doctor moved away from his mildly cold body and his hand went straight to the forehead that he started gently massaging.

"My head," he grumbled while badly grimacing.

Barry slightly cracked his eyes open and winced at the light invading them. In obvious discomfort, he blinked a couple of times under the hopeless, but patient, eyes of his two friends. After what seemed like forever, but was only seconds later, the green eyes finally opened to the world and found his doctor friend's glance who smiled softly.

"Hey," warmly greeted Caitlin. There was no trace of anger or emptiness in those green eyes, like what they witnessed when he was under Hyde's control, which was an amazing first good sign. It really was, even if they did look exhausted and a bit confused, "Barry?" She tried again after an anxious silent moment.

"Cait?" Asked Barry, softly and uncertain, while moistening his dry lips and slowly turning his head around.

The confusion vibrating in his vocal cords wasn't missed by his friends, "yeah, it's me, Barry," reassured Caitlin as she gently massaged the arm still under her palm. "you're safe. You're okay," she added, working hard to keep her rising fear inside.

"Happened?" He rasped with his dry throat before noticing the second bed next to his. His fogged mind had him stare at it for a while to analyse the situation at slow motion before realisation suddenly hit him, "Cisco? What's wrong with you?" He asked, concern in every word.

Too tired to speak up, Cisco waved at him in an almost comically way and let Caitlin take over for the answer, "let's just it wasn't completely uneventful while you were absent, but he'll be okay."

Her vague answer wasn't good enough for the speedster who deepened his frown in obvious worry and twisted his head, 'til it hurt, so he could get in the right angle to take a good look at the sick engineer.

"Cisco?' He directly asked his friend.

"Might've caught a small case of pneumonia," managed to rasp Cisco.

"But, he'll be fine," hurriedly added Caitlin once she saw Barry's concern rising exponentially at the scary medical term, "we caught it early and he's on the mend," she reassured the speedster before letting go of his arm, "what about you? Do you remember why you protected that woman and let her hide you?"

Woman? What woman? Barry closed his eyes again and brought his second hand to his painful forehead; there was too much information at the same time for his headache, "I was coming back here. I was trying to remember an-"

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he hurriedly tried to sit up, only succeeding into tangling himself in the blankets and to see the world whirl in front his eyes.

"Hey, hey, easy there," Caitlin soothed, rushing in to help her friend stabilise his shaking upper body as his head lowered for a second and the speedster gulped his rising nausea.

Taking a shaky breath, Barry looked around the room one more time, but this time his eyes passed Cisco and continued to scan all around before finally returning toward Caitlin and he asked, "where is she? Where's Olivia?" He inquired, anxiously fingering the blanket.

Caitlin smiled reassuringly and gently grabbed Barry's shoulder to ground him back with her, "easy Barry, she's not going to hurt you anymore. You're safe."

"No, you don't understand," he said, furiously shaking his head and darting around the room once again before making eye contact with the doctor, "I need to know where she is, she's my friend. She saved me."

"What's going on here? Is he awake?" Exclaimed Iris's approaching voice as she was coming back to the room. Her very first reaction, once witnessing the awake speedster, was to stop moving. The second action she made was to smile widely with relief shining in her eyes, "Barry!" She exclaimed, moving forward so fast that she caused Barry to flinch for a second, studying intensively her features for barely a moment. That moment was enough for Joe's daughter to freeze and start worrying. What was wrong?

"I-ris," He finally, carefully, said, "I remember you, I remember everything," he explained proudly under the confused looks being thrown around in a not-so-subtle way. Remembering what exactly? Iris? It shouldn't be such a big achievement.

"Barry, you mind telling us what's going on?" Asked Caitlin while carefully pronouncing every word. How concerned should she be? Should they start thinking about sedating the speedster before he would do something he shouldn't?

"Just tell me Olivia is all right and I'll explain everything," promised Barry while trying to spot the woman in the cortex. In the last clear memory he had, she was right there with him.

"She's fine, Barry," finally said Caitlin, "we didn't know why she was keeping you from coming back and if she was holding anything against you, so we put her in the pipeline. Joe's with her as we speak."

Barry stiffened unconsciously. Deep inside, he knew his team wouldn't hurt anyone without any good reason. Of course, he knew that. But, still, the last thing he remembered was being surrounded, and feeling the agonizing pain in his brain while his memories were surging back. He could clearly remember all the voices screaming desperately. What if they thought that Olivia was controlling, or worse, hurting, him? What if Olivia had attacked them in self-defence and in a desperate attempt to keep Barry protected from all harms? "But, she's okay?"

"Yeah, she's unharmed. She's in the pipeline like Caitlin just said," assured Iris, confused about this turn of event. Why was Barry so frantic about her fate?

Thankfully, the instant she answered, both girls saw Barry's whole body relaxed and heard his deep exhale. Without adding a single another word, Barry clumsily tried to push away the warm blanket on his body.

"Barry? What are you doing?" Inquired Iris while moving to his side, unsure if she should help him or push the hero back on the bed. That dilemma didn't seem to be one for the doctor as Caitlin put herself in the man's path without hesitation as he was freeing his long legs wearing sweatpants on the ground.

"Excuse me, where the hell do you think you're going to?" She asked with her arms crossing over her chest.

"I have to see her, I'll explain everything after," he pleaded while sitting on the side of the bed and looking pitiful.

Confused glances were exchanged between the other people in the room at the abnormal behaviour of their friend. But, to be fair, what was normal and what wasn't for Barry changed quite a bit in the last year or so.

"She saved my life, many times," vaguely explained Barry, "I promised I'll tell you everything you need to know after."

"Alright," yielded Caitlin, sighing, "you better have a good explanation about why you came back in secret, again."

Barely taking the time to finish her sentence, she stood next to the speedster, on the opposite side from where Iris was standing and carefully helped Barry back on his feet, waiting till he was steady enough to stand on his own.

Barry scoffed, "I promise you, this story will be worth your time."

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

Joe had been having quite the chat with the girl behind the glass. That was one hell of the tall tale he had been hearing, but could she be trusted? The whole story about rescuing and taking care of an amnesiac speedster sounded like a bit of a stretch, but it would explain a couple of things. If only there was a way to prove whether she was telling the truth or not, other than waiting for the sleeping speedster to come back to them. If she was, indeed, telling the truth about what unfolded in Europe, was Barry going to be okay?

Needing some time to think about all this information, Joe had already closed the panel blocking the view from the prisoner and was getting ready to get back up in the cortex when footsteps interrupted the detective's thoughts.

Turning around, Joe's frown evaporated, and his smile widened from ear to ear when he saw the tall and slim figure walking between his daughter and the doctor wearing sweatpants and a S.T.A.R. Labs sweater.

"Barry!" He exclaimed, already stretching his long legs, and walking with the longest of strides toward his son as he was completely unable to wait another second before reaching Barry.

His arms opened wide and captured the young man's body in the warmest bear hug, a gesture his foster son instantly returned.

"You're awake! And you look good, Barr," he said warmly with his eyes closing out of pure relief for just a second.

"It's good to see you too," responded Barry who slowly started releasing the embrace. Except for the second he broke the contact, Joe strongly grabbed both his biceps and carefully examined the young hero, scanning him to make sure he didn't miss anything.

"I'm really good. I am," assured Barry before looking around at Caitlin, knowing his foster dad wouldn't accept his words as fact 'til the doctor had approved them first. After all, the hero was notorious for trying to hide his injuries or discomfort.

"He is," nodded Caitlin which caused Joe to give in to his emotions and give another bone-crushing hug to Barry.

"Good to have you back, son," he said softly with all the love a father could give before finally letting go and turning to Caitlin, "I thought you were supposed to tell me when he would wake up," he added, a bit more seriously.

"I just did,' defended Barry, "but I really needed to come see Olivia. Can I talk to her?"

The detective looked at the others for approvals before walking out of the way and letting his son distancing himself from the group to approach the control panel. Barry's fingers stopped in mid-air, hovering over the controls as he turned his head slightly in the direction of his friends and family:

"Can I have one moment alone with her, please?" The speedster requested.

"If you need help-"

"I won't, but thanks," nodded Barry in appreciation. He couldn't keep it against them for being afraid for his health, especially after he disappeared two times in less than a year. Well, more like three times if you were the count the last couple of weeks.

There was no doubt in Barry's mind that the whole group would be closely watching and listening to everything that was about to happen or be said in the pipeline, but Barry didn't want Olivia to feel too crowded after everything she probably just experienced. Once he was alone in the room, Barry finally touched the screen.

When the big blue door opened and allowed Olivia to see that the person standing on the other side was now Henry, her whole facial expression changed instantly. Her annoyed frown and grimace switched to a beautiful, wide, and relieved smile and all her features were suddenly irradiating with joy as she jumped to her feet and pressed both palms on the glass door.

"Henry!" She exclaimed, her every syllable vibrating with delight, "you're okay! Quick get me out of here."

Barry found himself unable to stop the chuckle to leave his lips at that scene while he pressed down on the control panel to free the prisoner. It took two long strides, running ones, for Olivia to cover the distance between her previous location and the spot where her friend was standing. Getting there, she almost jumped on the young man's arms to hold him in the tightest and the warmest of hugs.

"I didn't know if I could trust these people. I thought they might've done something to you," she whispered into his shirt while feeling a comforting hand gently massaging her back.

"I'm okay," answered Barry softly, before gently pushing her just a couple of inches back so he could see her face, "I'm way better than okay, actually-" he started to announce with a wide smile.

"Who are they? Can we trust them? I don't think they believed me," quickly said Olivia who let go of the physical contact and forced her mind back into the harsh reality, "we might want to get out of here before they come back."

"Hey!" Called back Barry who grabbed the woman's right arm to keep her from moving away from him, "it's ok, we're safe. But these people are my friends. And my family," explained Barry, only to meet a sceptical look staring back at him.

"Are you sure about this?" inquired Olivia, who still slightly relaxed; her friend had yet to let her down and if she was right about all of this, there was no reason not to believe him.

"Trust me on this, we're finally safe. And home," enigmatically said Barry while letting go of his grasp and sitting down on the ground, " I remember now. Everything." He calmly stated, "I know who I am. That and how to find the Flash." He added, the corner of his lip twitching as he was trying not to laugh. He just couldn't believe he spent so much time searching for... himself.

Well, to be fair, he had been searching for himself, for who he really was deep inside, since the moment his friends freed him from the soul spell.

Eyes wide open, Olivia finally yielded and sit right next to him, "you're serious?" Barry nodded, "then...who are you? Are you… him? Are you The Flash‽"


	16. Demonstration

Barry was probably resembling a deer caught in car's headlights at that moment as he just numbly stared at his friend 'til she finally asked the question again, "well...are you? The Flash?" She asked again, bubbling with excitement like a kid on Christmas Eve while looking straight into the hero's eyes.

"Wh... how... how did you?"

The woman's eyes lighted up intensively, "so, I am right?"

Swallowing hard, unable to find the right words, Barry simply nodded.

"Can't believe I'm right!" Exclaimed the young meta, throwing her head slightly back and laughing aloud in exhilaration.

"How did... did you... find out?" Stammered Barry, still in shock. Just, how? That and, especially, for how long? So much could've been avoided had he known sooner about his identity.

Forcing herself to calm down just a little bit, Olivia shrugged, "honestly? The thought did cross my mind when I first did my researches on Flash and the Ghost back in Europe. I mean, you two have the same powers, the Ghost appearing soon after you left the cave or the Flash going M.I.A. before the Ghost first appeared…but I dismissed it considering how different these two personas seemed to be."

That made sense, but still, "what changed?"

"The concern I've seen these people showing toward you. I saw how worry and protective they seemed to be about you when you showed up and the way they were trying to protect you from me... I guess my own fear blocked my rational thoughts at that moment, as all I could think about was to keep you safe. I'm guessing you weren't in your right mind when you attacked them and when you were the Ghost, weren't you?" added the young woman. When Barry nodded again, she smiled tenderly, "I knew you were a good person."

"Thanks for believing in me when I couldn't," answered Barry with the same smile, one that faded slightly. Yeah, he used to be The Flash, but these days were long gone… could he go back in the suit now that everything was over? Could he go back to being a hero after letting Matt die?

"No problem," she added, playfully nudging her friend on his side before she started laughing again, which caused a whole new bright smile out of Barry.

"All right, let's take this back from the start," added Barry while turning to Olivia and extending his arm and hand to the blonde who took it hesitantly, "Barry. Barry Allen, nice to meet you."

"So, Barry, hum?"

"Well, my full name is actually Bartholomew Henry Allen, if you really want to know."

"Doesn't roll off the tongue," she teased while biting her cheek in an effort to stay serious and keep herself from laughing at her own, not-that-funny, joke.

"Yeah, well-" Started Barry, shrugging, "Barry is good."

"Barry it is," she agreed while fighting the urge to wrap her arms around her friend, around Barry, once again. Would it be weird? She was just so happy, and she just wanted to celebrate the fact that they made it home, safe, and they both found what they were searching for; Barry finally learned who he was, and she had finally found the Flash. What a day.

"What do you say that, now, we go continue that conversation elsewhere?" Olivia got up on her feet and dust-off her new pale pair of jeans before extending a helping hand, "come on, get up and let's go meet your friends and redo this first meeting, the right way this time."

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

Despite her initial excitement, just moments earlier, Olivia could strongly feel the butterflies in her stomach as nervousness took over. What would she do if they were to refuse to help her? If they didn't want her around, what would Barry do? Would he side with his people and kick her out too?

 _Calm down, girl,_  she told herself, if these people were Hen... No, not Henry, Barry. If they were Barry's close friends and family, it's probably because they were at least sharing some of the young hero's beliefs.

She couldn't imagine her friend surrounding himself with bad people. Still, it was timidly following the speedster that she made her way out of the elevator and walked down the hallway toward wherever Barry was guiding her to. Turning the corner and entering this new room, her attention was instantly grabbed by the red suit hanging at the back of the room.

"Whoa!"

Coming back to America, to Central City, she had hoped but she didn't know if she would find the speedster. She didn't think she would find the hero so easily and she especially didn't expect to end up straight away into his base with the costume hanging in the back.

Barry also took a moment to stop and look at the suit, feeling like the fabric was staring straight back at him. Yes, it sounded crazy, but he couldn't help how he was feeling while his throat was constricting itself at the view and his insides were twisting. Never had this suit looked so unfamiliar. Except, maybe it was because of his friend's enthusiast, but part of him wanted to try it on again, but he quickly dismissed that thought.

His attention turned toward the approaching crowd, a group that included Joe, Iris, Caitlin, and Wally. All of them were looking at the speedster with a mix of joy and apprehension, even maybe slight embarrassment, considering how they treated the young girl the second she arrived on the premise. It wasn't like them to overreact like that.

"Hey," said Barry, starting the conversation once he saw how everyone was struggling to find the right words, "this is-"

Twisting his head around, he quickly noticed how Olivia was still blankly looking at the suit instead of focusing on what was going on, so he moved back by a couple of feet and gently pushed her forward, "can I present you my friend, Olivia? When I managed to find the cave and destroyed it, well... let's just say that things didn't completely turn out the way I thought they would. Olivia saved me. She healed my wounds, protected me, and helped me take down Hyde's son. She's the only reason I survived and came back here," Barry quickly summarised, maybe a bit too quickly.

"I'm sorry I wrongly accused you guys earlier," apologized Olivia as she stepped closer and extended her hand to shake whoever would be ready to give her a second chance.

Luckily, it didn't take long before someone reached out. That first person was Caitlin who grabbed the woman's hand, smiling, "we're the ones who should apologise," she started before letting go of the hand and putting a lock of hair behind her ear, "we lost Barry twice before his little adventure, so we jumped to conclusions too fast."

"Don't worry about it and thank you," gratefully answered the young blonde-haired girl.

"That's Caitlin Snow," clarified Barry for his friend, "she's our doctor. The person who already talked to you downstairs is Detective Joe West," he added while pointing at his foster dad first, then Iris and Wally, "and they're his children, Iris and Wally."

"Yeah, I'm sorry for the way I acted," said Joe, taking off his toque and scratching his neck.

"Thanks for bringing him home. That's all that matter," gratefully added Iris as she moved closer.

Relieved, Olivia nodded and looked around while commenting; "it's an impressive facility you have here," After a moment, her wandering eyes fell and locked once again on the hanging suit, "and even after I guessed it on my own, I still can't believe you're actually the Flash, Henry."

"Barry," corrected Wally, faster than the man himself.

The woman's cheek reddened, "it's going to take some time getting used to that."

"Don't worry about that, it actually was my father's name," reassured Barry, there was no harm done.

"Was?" Picked up the young woman, "I'm sorry..."

"It's... okay," said Barry, only to get interrupted by an enthusiastic Wally whose hands were playing together and couldn't hold his question back any longer.

"What about your flashing hands earlier? What are your powers?"

"Well, it-"

"How about we make a demonstration?" proposed Barry who interrupted the blonde woman in plaid and pointed his arm toward the medbay to redirect the crowd and Olivia's attention, "this sick gentleman right there is my best friend, Cisco Ramon."

Taking a quick look, Olivia finally spotted the man with the long dark and curly hair in the medical bay, the one-person Olivia still hadn't met, "what's wrong with him?" She asked as she put her long legs into movement and started heading there.

"He was thrown into cold water, almost drown and started developing pneumonia because of it," quickly explained Caitlin who followed the two people with the rest of the group.

"You think you can do something?' Asked Barry.

Do something? Caitlin frowned in confusion; this girl had been on the run since she was 17, how could she do more than her? When did she get a medical degree?

"I can try if you don't mind," she said as she approached the bed and looked back at Barry's friend, uncertain if she was allowed to test her skills on the sick man.

Slightly leaning over his friend, Barry gently took a hold of his sick friend's shoulders to gently shake them, rousing the sleeping hero from his recuperating sleep.

"Welcome back, Mr. Ramon," he happily greeted when the engineer opened his eyes and grunt, while quickly blinking when the light assaulted his sleepy eyes.

"What?" Grumbled Cisco as he was squinting to try and discern the faces hovering over his bed and slightly flinched when he noticed the unfamiliar faces looming close, "umm, hello there. Barry?"

"She's my friend and she might help you. If you let her."

"Barry?" Caitlin questioned cautiously, unsure if she could trust whatever was going to happen. As much as her apprehension toward the young blonde had diminished, it didn't mean that she had to like the idea of letting someone she barely knew do something to her patient. A patient who just happened to also be a very close friend of her.

"Just, trust me on this. I got critically injured on that mission and Olivia is the only reason I'm still alive. Just let her do her thing," Barry reasoned.

Seeing the determination and the absence of some underneath darkness that would imply any kind of mental manipulation, Cisco shrugged, he could trust his best friend, "I'm up for it, let's try it. What should I do?" He inquired.

After acknowledging the subtle nod from the doctor, Olivia put all her attention back toward the patient, "just stay still and relax, it shouldn't hurt, nor take too long."

As she was talking, her small and delicate hands grabbed the uncovered forearm and closed her eyes in concentration before taking in a deep exhale. Sure enough, her hands started glowing with their nice and clear blue coloration. The beautiful, almost magical looking, blue energy flow enveloped the lower limb and kept on growing to go all the way under the sleeves. The energy disappeared almost completely, only leaving a faint glow under the pale grey shirt on the upper torso.

When the woman's powers reached out to their target and approached the man's lungs, Olivia inhaled sharply and unconsciously dug a little in the man's forearm with her nails while a drop or two of sweat appeared on her forehead. It didn't look like Cisco even sensed the tighter contact as his eyes were now closed and his whole facial expression was one of relaxation and pure comfort. Yup, Barry could relate to this feeling, the healing process was so smooth and warm. The speedster's attention returned to the woman who had her lips tightly shut with her lower lips slightly shaking. Concern rose when a drop of blood from her nose suddenly fell on her arm.

"Olivia?" Gently inquired Barry, unsure if he could physically touch her while she was in that state.

Luckily, he didn't have to wait much longer as she suddenly stopped before an intense shiver passed through her whole body. Realizing her situation, Olivia wiped her runny nose and glanced at her fingers to confirm her suspicions; yes, definitely blood. Without showing any visual sign of worrying, she quickly wiped the rest of it with her hand before a tissue suddenly appeared in front of her, quickly followed by a nice warm blanket that landed around her shoulder. All these items had been given by the speedster who was obviously more anxious about her condition than she was.

"Don't worry, it often happens when I do this. You didn't get to see me when I healed your biggest wounds," she simply explained, shrugging, but still wrapping the blanket a bit tighter around her shoulders.

Barry frowned, "maybe you should lay down,' he proposed while Caitlin was rushing to Cisco's bedside as the man was opening back his eyes and looking around.

The engineer had already regained a lot of his colour and looked visually better; "whoa, what the… was that?" He exclaimed before turning to Olivia, "thank you!"

Sitting up on the bed, Cisco took a longest of breath, slowly and carefully at first, before smiling widely and doing it again. The third time, he breathed even more deeply before coughing just a slight, but nothing like before. This one it wasn't deep and nasty, it sounded more like a dry throat cough.

"Alright, mister, don't you dare thinking about getting up before I check you out," instructed Caitlin who took back control of the situation, "before I check both of you out!" She added, pointing at the tired and slightly shaking woman with the blanket wrapped around her shoulder.

Olivia threw a mysterious look at Barry who chuckled, "if you value your life, you should let her do her tests. It's her thing."

It's not because she was wearing a skirt and a blouse that she wasn't dangerous for a careless patient, "you're in good hands," reassured Barry while a comforting hand on Olivia's shoulder before walking out and letting the doctor make sure the two young people were okay. Since meeting her, Barry had seen Olivia in various states of fatigue from which she always rebounded as fast as he would, but it would really make him feel better to know a real doctor was making sure her powers weren't harmful in the long term.

"I think we have a lot to catch up, don't we?" He said to the West clan as the four of them returned in the cortex to wait.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

It didn't take too long for Caitlin to get out of the medical room, closely followed by a healthier Cisco, even if he did still look tired. Not that Barry had any doubts about Olivia's skills, it still made him really happy to see his best friend back up and about so soon. Hell, he was more than happy to have everyone around him; Team Flash was back at it. In a split-second decision, Barry closed the distance between himself and his friend and opened his arms.

"It's good to see you back up," he said before sharing a strong manly hug with his best friend, an embrace Cisco returned with all the strength he had.

"Good to see you back, period," answered back Cisco, grinning like a child on Christmas eve.

"Where is she, anyway?" inquired Barry, looking up when he saw she hadn't followed,

"Sleeping," said Caitlin, "she was pretty tired, and I can't blame her. I started comparing the blood sample I just took to the one I had when we capt... took her in," she quickly corrected herself mid-sentence, hating how bad the word captured kind of sounded, "from what I can tell already, her regenerative metabolism seems to be just as fast as yours, Barry, maybe even faster, it's just incredible, and she can transfer her own energy into other people. I can barely find any sign of sickness in Cisco anymore."

Barry couldn't help but grin proudly, of course, he knew she was something else.

"But..." continued Caitlin, "all of this seems pretty taxing on her system and some of her vitals dropped just after she was done the healing. Her glucose levels are pretty low."

"We just need to make her some kind of energy bars, kind of like mine, that she can take every time she'll use her powers," proposed Barry before adding enthusiastically, "she's going to make a great addition to the team."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone still reading? ;) Don't be shy. Slowly approaching the last part of this story, and trilogy


	17. There's your chance

The last part of the hero's sentence had his friend and teammates hesitating. They just met that person and, even Barry, who knew her the longest, barely met her a couple of weeks ago. Could they really let her in on everything and put their lives in her hands?

"Barry, how much do you really know about her?" Asked Iris, the first one who decided to speak up.

"Humm, Barry?" Cisco tried, uncomfortably looking at his friends, "don't take this the wrong way, but did you have any intentions of discussing that to us before inviting her to the team?"

"I'm doing it now and I still hadn't officially invited her just yet!" He protested, half insulted about the insinuation, of course he was planning to talk to the team first about his wish, "you guys have seen what she can do, she could be a really great asset to the team."

"What she can or can't do isn't the issue here, Barry," Caitlin gently intervened who didn't want to start another blown out of proportions misunderstood like the one from earlier today, "we don't know anything about her, or at least, barely anything at all. We need to be able to rely on each other to deal with the life or death situations we're facing almost every week, trust is crucial."

For some unknown reasons, it was frustrating Barry more than he was willing to admit it. How hard was it to see how special Olivia was? Technically, he only officially met her two weeks ago, without counting when she was keeping him alive in the cave, but he felt like he'd known her his whole life. Barry took a much-needed moment to organize his thoughts; he needed to be fair to his team and the thing is, they weren't there in Europe. Hell, they never were prisoner to Hyde's organisation like he, Olivia or even Matt were. These kinds of experiences could create a level of closeness that would take years to achieve under normal circumstances. So, Barry needed to be comprehensive and patient with his team.

"Look, guys, you can trust me on this. Don't put your faith in her just yet but trust me instead and just give her a chance to prove herself. You'll see soon enough that she's a good person and, if anything happens, I'll take full responsibility," he compromised to appease the group's doubts.

Joe stepped forward in front of the group to speak up as he needed to make sure his son had all the needed information before making his decision and taking that responsibility, "Barry, do you know she's a fugitive? She escaped her Juvenile detention centre two and a half years ago."

Barry shrugged, he couldn't really blame everyone for being suspicious after finding that one out. Considering everything they're all going through, they all needed to be 100% sure that they could rely on each other, "I know, she told me. She told me everything."

"Do you also know that she ended in there for doing a lot of petty crimes?"

"Yeah, I know," answered Barry, unfazed, "look, she did what she had to do to survive. After the night of the explosion, her life went downhill pretty fast and pretty badly. Her brother got killed by a Meta and her parents kicked her out because she was one as they were unable to see the difference between her and the criminal responsible for the lost in their family. She couldn't know who to trust with her powers and had nowhere to go. It's the reason why she was forced to survive on her own."

The guilt was clear in the way Cisco and Caitlin grimaced; the person sleeping in the other room was another consequence of what they did, from what Eobard made them do. The woman they were debating about was just another victim who suffered the consequences of their actions.

"Guys, listen," continued Barry, "she came in Central City because she wanted to find the Flash. She was hoping he would show her how to do some good with her life and use her powers to help people. We can train her to do that. We could train her to go on missions."

Cisco grimaced again. Sure, he was tempted to help that woman, but maybe having her join their superhero fighting team wasn't the solution they were looking for, "Barry, there's a big difference between taking care of me in the medbay and going out in the field, it's dangerous."

"You didn't see her out there, she's fierce. She took out Hyde's son and his two men when I went down," argued back the speedster while looking straight in his best friend's eyes before moving his determined glance to each and every person surrounding him.

Joe frowned at that last sentence and exchanged uneasy looks with the people next to him, "Barry, let me see if I get this right, you just confirmed that she killed people and you want to use that as an argument for adding her to the team?"

"It was self-defense; these guys beat us down and they were trying to kill us," protested Barry while slightly raising the tone of his voice. What could he say to convince them? He was starting to lose his patience, just a tad. "She's a good person and she saved my life, what more do you need? I have to help her in return, I owe her that."

The instant Barry finished making his point, Cisco and Caitlin suddenly stared at each other as the same idea crossed both their mind at the same time. Nervously avoiding eye contact, Cisco went ahead with the one question burning his lips, "Barry, I don't know how to tell you this, but I hope you're not doing this because of your guilt over what happened with Matt and because you wanna make it up for not being able to save him."

Barry's lips parted slightly as the speedster was about to protest, but he moistened them instead and kept his silence. What if they were right? He took one moment to really think this. Turning his back on his team, Barry approached the Flash suit with both hands behind his head while he was scratching the back of it for a second. His pause was long enough for the group to start wondering if they weren't right on that hunch. When Barry finally turned around, it wasn't with the most well-prepared answer he could have come with, but it was what his heart was telling him.

"It has nothing to do with him. I promise," assured Barry, "when I first got my powers and I came forward to you guys about it, you were in my corner right away. You supported and helped me in every possible aspect and you made me feel safe since Day 1. Same goes for you, Joe, and Iris when you both found out eventually; you never saw me any differently and you knew I was and stayed the same guy. But, Olivia? Her parents threw her out and everyone saw her as a freak, a monster…We-" he added while looking directly at Caitlin and Cisco, "-might only have met because of Thawne, but it doesn't matter because I never was alone. She was. All Olivia needs is a place to stay and a little understanding from people who won't judge her. I know I can do that. We can do that. Let me help her," he pleaded.

The way his teammates started looking at each other wasn't lost on Barry.

"All right, let's give her a chance and see what she can do. Let's help her," finally agreed Cisco.

"What do you say that now, Barr, you tell us everything that happened to you since you left for Europe two weeks ago?" Suggested Joe.

Barry chuckled, "I hope you guys have some time," he said before leaning against the back of the chair behind the main computers, "but, after I do tell you everything, you guys have to tell me what unfolded on your side too and what really happened to you, Cisco," he finished while looking at his best friend.

It was going to take a while.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"There she is," greeted Cisco with his face turned toward the medical bay, which caused everyone to do the same as the slim form of Olivia approached them with her blonde curly hair tied in a side ponytail.

Barry smiled as the woman was carefully advancing toward the group in the cortex. At the moment, the speedster was seated in the back of the room, not too far from his suit while Caitlin was standing close to him. Facing them was Cisco, standing with his back leaning against the main desk while both Joe and his daughter were sitting behind the computers.

"How was your power nap?"

"It was... invigorating," she said as she finally reached Barry's side and stopped, hesitating for a moment, before she finally took a seat next to the speedster and started looking at everyone. At this very instant, she really felt like she had finally found her place in this world, "what now?"

"We were actually talking about you," commented Caitlin,

"I'm sure you had been," giggled Olivia. No doubt in her mind that Barry ended up doing quite an explanation about, well, everything that transpired.

"Do you wanna be part of this team?" Inquired Barry without an introduction of any kind that might've helped ease her into the subject, "wanna stop bad people and do some good with your powers? Isn't that what you always wanted to do?"

Olivia blinked a few times and her mouth slightly opened without realizing she was doing it, "you're serious?" She had no idea what to expect coming into the Flash's life, but she surely didn't expect to get a silver invitation into the team straight away, especially not after their big misunderstood. "What are we expecting me to do? Wear a cool suit and go out there?"

Barry couldn't help himself as a laugh erupted, "let's figure out later exactly what you're gonna be doing. But, if you want a suit, that's the man you need to ask about," he added, pointing at Cisco who comically inflated his chest with pride.

"If you need a cool name, I'm also the man," added Cisco while pointing at himself 'til he noticed that Caitlin's head had slightly tilted to the right while she was mouthing  _'really?'_

The friendly chat got interrupted by a piercing alarm resonating all over the cortex.

"Great timing!" Sarcastically screamed Cisco at whoever was listening before rushing back behind the computers to see the source of the alarm while Olivia was already back on her feet with all her senses on high alarm: "what is it? What's going on?"

"Our Meta's back at it again?" asked Joe.

"We have an explosion downtown in the Business Tower at the corner of the 10th street and Sterling," exclaimed Cisco who put his hair behind his ears as he leaned closer to the screen to try and get as much information as he could, "I need to get in there," he firmly said while getting back up and already looking around for his equipment. What had his friends done with them when he was out?

Frowning, Caitlin stepped forward, "no you don't. Even if you're feeling better, you still haven't completely recovered from what happened to you, you need to rest. We don't even know if it's from our water Meta, it doesn't fit her MO."

"I don't care if it's her or not," argued back Cisco while gesticulating and moving pass the doctor to keep on searching, "someone needs to go. Where did you put my equipment?"

"Cisco-" growled Caitlin, "even if you were in the best of shape, you can't exactly vibe everyone out of there before the building burns out or collapse."

During the confrontation, Barry stayed awkwardly slumped against his chair and looking up at both his friend like he was a child about to get lectured by his friend's parents. His uncharacteristic quiet behaviour wasn't missed on Olivia who turned around to curiously look at her friend, with a hint of worried mixed in her features:

"What's wrong, why aren't you going?"

Her question might've been almost whispered, but it still caused both Caitlin and Cisco to stop bickering and to redirect their attention toward the young woman. So, she didn't know everything after all. To be fair, how could she if Barry only just recovered his memories? He didn't have the time to tell her about his apprehension about going back at being a hero after all the bad things he did when he was the Ghost.

"Humm guys-" interrupted Joe, "no matter who goes, you should go down there before it's too late."

Without thinking twice about her next action, Olivia started untying her side ponytail and made a new one, tighter and higher one, behind her head, "fine, I'll go."

It was all Barry needed to wake his frozen brain and jump to his feet before grabbing the woman's right bicep, "wait, what do you think you'll do there? You can't rush in there and take people out, you'll get yourself hurt. What if the person who did this is still out there?"

"I'm not suicidal, I won't run inside if that's what you're so worried about. But there are probably people already hurt who made it out," she started, looking at Barry straight in the eyes with determination, "that's why I came here to, to help people. Hell, you're the one who just told me I could join this team, so what are we waiting for?"

Caitlin frowned at the scene and raised her eyebrows at Barry. Barry wasn't kidding when he said that the girl was fierce.

She was right, of course she was, and Barry knew that. He almost felt selfish for hesitating right now, what was he waiting for? He got justice for everything that happened to him, to Matt and Olivia and he was back home. Everything was over. Sure, he was still haunted by the memories in his head of what he did to his team and to the innocent people he attacked last fall, but, before he got his memories back, he came back to Central City in the hope to become a better person and get his redemption. Maybe that was his chance to do it, the chance to prove he still had what it takes to be a hero. If only he still had his Ghost suit, but last time he wore it was when he destroyed the cave. Chances were Olivia either destroyed it or kept it in that house that they both fled from back in Europe. Fine. He needed to get back in the saddle eventually and this was as good as any time. Plus, he still was on his momentum of fighting side by side with Olivia, he wasn't' going to let her alone on the field.

"You can't deny me that," continued to argue Olivia, or tried to as electricity and wind filled the room and her speedster friend went out of sight for just one second. Before she could comprehend what was happening, Barry was already back and had already put something in her now extended hands; a red mask. Trajectory's red mask they kept from last year. As she was looking down at it, she missed the reason why everyone else in the room suddenly gasped in concert at the sight now laying before their eyes. Looking up, she saw it too: Barry in full Flash suit, with the cowl down. Well, almost the whole Flash's suit as the emblem was missing. Emblem or not, it was the first time anyone, outside of Matt's wife, Amelia, had seen him in it for a very, very long time. The Flash was back, mostly, and he looked ready for battle.

"You wanna be part of this team? You wanna go on the field? There's your chance," said the speedster, electricity sparkling in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Leave a comment, gonna need some motivation for the rest.
> 
> Hope you guys are ready to see Olivia in the field. Or, I should ask, is Olivia ready to fight with everyone?


	18. First mission

Slowly raising the mask up, Olivia moved it around in front of her face 'til she was watching the world through the holes in it. Sure, she wanted to go out there and help people, or at least she used to think that's what she wanted but having a real mask in her hand was making her limbs shaky. Was she really ready?

"If we do this, I'll do the heavy lifting," negotiated Barry while looking at both Cisco and Olivia as he saw the tremors in her muscles and the hesitation all over her face, "you guys can stay in the back and protect the crowd and the injured, just in case. I'll take care of the people who are stuck inside."

Agreeing to the terms, Caitlin nodded. Under these conditions, she was fine with letting Cisco already go back out there while still not being 100%. And, let's be fair, could she really stop him if she wanted to? Hopefully, if there were lucky, it was just a random attack and it had nothing to do with the three Meta terrorizing the town.

Glancing at his two Meta friends, Barry's lips twitched into a smile, "let's go save these people. What do you say?"

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

The scene wasn't pretty at the corner of the 10th street and Sterling where the explosion occurred in the taller business buildings. On one of the higher floors, from where the explosion appeared to have originated. The front side of the building was badly damaged as smoke and flame danced in the air and engulfed the middle part of the building while the higher floors were shaking under the damages. Hopefully, they wouldn't need to deal with a collapsing building. No matter how high or low the chances were that the integrity of the structure itself had been compromised, there was no time to lose in clearing everyone out. All the exit doors around the building were wide open as people were rushing out as fast as they possibly could. Wide panic was clearly present in the moment.

When a breach opened up right straight to the scene, not far from scared citizen running for their lives and possibly-soon-to-collapsed building, announcing the arrival of the cavalry. Three forms jumped out of it; Vibe, Olivia and… the Flash! The Flash was back in uniform and standing in a public place for the first time since defeating Zoom. Well, he was almost completely back as he wasn't proudly displaying the white and yellow symbol on his chest, but it would have to do. Close enough, right? Whether it was because of the cold or of the high running emotions, Barry felt shivers passing through his spine. Was he really wearing this suit in public again? On his right, Olivia was proudly standing tall with her red mask while wearing Cisco's leather jacket over her elegant flannel plaid shirt. Her smile widened over her concentrated expression as she looked at the two heroes standing at her side. Getting mentally and physically ready to help people, she was clenching and unclenching her fists while feeling the nice warm energy slowly building up in both of her hands.

"I'm going to get everyone out, just stay back and take care of the wounded," instructed Barry before turning to Cisco, "just-"

"I'll look out for her, don't worry," answered back Vibe who stepped forward so he could actually get a clear view of the woman standing on the other side of his best friend and share an understanding look with the young girl.

With his hands raised high, Cisco was scanning his surroundings with eagle's eyes. There was no proof so far that it was their Meta, it could just be a random accident, but he wasn't going to let his guard down, not this time and not with a new protégé to look after. Cisco was going to stand there ready and watch out for both Olivia and Barry should he need any help.

The instant Barry took off, Olivia started running in the opposite direction while visually scanning and categorizing the injured in search for the people in need of the most urgent care. Most of the crowd that was presently regrouped close to the building looked mostly unharmed, other than mentally shaken up by what's happening. After a couple of seconds, the woman spotted a young adult on the ground with his face badly burned, just like the right side of his shirt.

"Stay where I can see you!" Yelled Cisco loudly in the direction of the blonde girl who took off to go help people. For a second, his glance dared to wander away from his surroundings and take a quick glimpse over his shoulder, trying to see if Olivia was safe, before redirecting his attention to where it was.

People were still rushing as fast as possible out of the burning building, some faster than others as many were limping or leaning on other people for support. Looking up at the smoke emanating from the 10th floor, Cisco smiled in relief once witnessing it was quickly getting thinner by the second; Barry had it under control and was about to carry out everyone still stuck inside.

Indeed, the next instant, yellow lightning zapped back and forth between their position and the damaged building. The speedster strategically left new people in his trail, including some badly wounded. A person for whom it was impossible to even identify the gender due to all the blood flowing freely from their forehead, and with a prominent piece of metal sticking out of their side, got deposit right next to Olivia who gently nodded to a grateful man she just helped before redirecting her attention to her new patient. Before leaning over the next wounded, she wiped the blood running from her nose and quickly scratched the back of her neck, grimacing.

Just as the breecher was about to let his guard down, seeing that everything appeared to be under control, a form materializing out of thin air caught Cisco's attention. There she was, Peek-a-boo, appearing right outside the building and next to the panicked crowd. She barely was a hundred feet or so away from his current position while people were still being evacuated.

"Hey!" Shouted the breacher, his right foot going forward. He was ready to go on the attack! Even if his voice was barely covering the cacophony, Peek-a-boo still turned around at the sound of his voice and spotted the angry glance of the metahuman. Barely out of prison and she was already causing problems.

"Oh no you don't!" Stated a commanding, yet familiar, voice just as Cisco was about to breach to Pee-a-boo direction.

Before the superhero could identify the source of the voice, a powerful water spray connected with his still body and sent him rolling on the unforgivingly rough street concrete under the gasping sound of the curious crowd observing from the distance.

Just feet away from where Cisco previously stood, there was a tall woman with the loose black hair hanging in her back who was also wearing a black coat. No doubt, it was the same woman who sent the hero in the river.

"Not sure how you're still alive, but you're not escaping this time," she growled aggressively with both her hands raised high in the air. No doubt that she was getting ready to fire another shot at Cisco who was pushing against the pain of his still recovering muscles to get back up.

"You stay away from him!" Shouted another woman's voice who suddenly grabbed the extended right arm of the water meta, or more like around the wrist that got out of the sleeve.

A gasp of sudden and unexpected pain escaped the angry lips and whatever their water meta was about to do stopped as she sharply turned her hand to look at her wrist. She instantly spotted the two dark purple hands that had an incredibly strong and painful grip around her arm.

"What are you doing to me?" She screamed, harshly trying to get free from the grip by making a sharp move with her arm, the key word being trying to as the pain was slowing down her mobility.

Both women suddenly fell on their knees just before everyone's attention got stolen by a mid-air explosion somewhere close to the ground and in front of the building. Had Barry just stopped Peek-a-boo from planting a second bomb? Now that Cisco took a second to think about it, since spotting the newly Iron Height escapee, he hadn't seen anyone else getting zipped out. As much as he wanted to check on Barry, his focus needed to first stay on Olivia and their water woman as their enemy took advantage of the distraction to free herself. Feeling the grip suddenly going loose, she violently shoved the blonde with the bleeding nose and sent her laying on the ground before getting herself back up, but not without using her still good arm to throw a powerful water spray at her attacker. Under the impact, Olivia violently flew away from the scene. The new member of Team Flash went crashing on the closest lamp pole before her body harshly landed on the footpath, face first, where she lay still.

Turning in the direction of the building, the water meta screamed at the top of her lungs, "RETREAT!"

Cisco could've gone after her as the woman stumbled for a couple of feet before regaining her sea legs and dashing away with her right arm tightly pressed against her chest, but she wasn't his first priority. Olivia was. But, before dashing toward the blonde's position, he still got the chance to get a quick glimpse of the red and black skin of the wrist. It wasn't a pretty sight to see. Pushing that aside and running as fast as possible to the lamp pole, he hurriedly knelt down next to the unmoving Olivia.

"Please be okay, please be okay," he quietly repeated over and over. Barry would kill him if something was to happen to Olivia on her first mission and under Cisco's watch.

Sitting on his heels, Cisco took a deep breath before pressing his gauntlets wearing fingers on the skin and he instantly sighed in relief when he felt a beating under them. But, even if Olivia was still alive, Cisco still frowned in worry as he sensed how irregular and weak the pulse was. Gently turning her over, he paled slightly when he saw the woman's whiteness.

"We have one teammate down," shouted Cisco to the comms, "I'm going to need to evacuate."

"Come on girl, stay with me," he said as his left hand was pressing against the woman's shoulder. Whatever Barry answered back on the comms was lost on Cisco who had already opened a new breach. In the next instant, he took the young woman under her armpits and dragged her into it and inside S.T.A.R. before emerging right into the medical lab, shouting for help.

High heels running on the concrete floor were heard the next second as they were announcing the approaching Caitlin Snow. While he was still crouched on the ground, the lower part of the royal blue blouse was the only part of his friend Cisco could see without looking up and the sight of it had his stress already lowering just a bit; Caitlin was going to take care of this. She was gonna take care of the young woman.

"What's going on? What happened?" Exclaimed Caitlin as she dropped to her knees and next to the young woman, already registering in her mind the blood under her nose and the drops of it present on Olivia's cheek.

"Our water Meta was there and she attacked me, knocked me off my feet. Before I could recover, Olivia tried to protect me and our Meta attacked her too," he stammered while Caitlin had already put them back on her hand on the slightly pale unconscious woman's cheek.

"She got thrown into a pole, I think she hit her head," completed Cisco.

"Pale and clammy skin, blood from nose and mouth-" started cataloguing the doctor who was now talking to herself and taking everything in. No time to waste. Jumping to her feet, she instructed: "get her on the bed."

They'll be damned if they were to let their new teammate in training go down on her first mission. Quickly and efficiently, the young woman ended up being laid down on the bed by Cisco and Iris. First things first; check the head injury. Gently, yet urgently, Caitlin put her hands behind the young blonde's head and palpated the sensible area while staying deaf to the groans of pain that emanated from Olivia's pale lips. Getting her hands away, Caitlin frowned at the blood on her fingers. There wasn't that much of and, just for a moment, Cisco thought it was a good sign, 'til he lifted his eyes and immediately spotted the deep concern in Caitlin's features. Something wasn't right and it wasn't just the girl hitting her head.

"What's wrong?" He inquired.

No wasting anytime responding, the doctor moved away to go grab a pair of medical scissors on the desk and, in one swift movement, she cut away the newly bought pale shirt. So many questions were burning Cisco's lips as he witnessed the scene; why would Caitlin feel the need to take these actions? Despite the temptation, he stayed silent as he knew better than to interrupt the doctor as she was working.

There was no blood on the young woman's exposed body, which could both be a good or a bad sign. Cisco was slightly relieved to see no ugly and gruesome injury, but the way Caitlin bit her lips and squint her eyes in deep concentration clearly meant she still had to figure out what was wrong with her patient.

Extending her right hand behind her, the hand that was holding the scissors, Caitlin was grateful when one of her friends got the message and swiftly took it away from her. Now that she had both of her hands-free, she started probing the body with her expert hands.

"There's definitely internal bleeding," she reported worriedly, "I need the room to work. Cisco you're with me, I'm gonna need your help."

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

A rush of wind entered the room, sending papers flying all over, as a familiar red figure arrived in the room just before a just-as-familiar voice made itself heard.

"Where is she?" asked Barry to whoever would be listening, his every word tainted with worried.

Looking around, he quickly spotted Iris who was sitting in silence, all on her own, behind the computers in the cortex while activities could be heard in the room next door. The computer in front of the young woman was displaying the speedster's vitals while, on the other computer, the Meta app that was going crazy about what would no doubt be tomorrow's first page in the papers; The Flash was back. Forget about tomorrow, it was probably already breaking news all over the media, but nobody in the lab could care less about it at the moment.

Once seeing the hero entering the room, Iris got up from her seat to close on the speedster and hold him against her. This poor man couldn't catch a break. It only was when she slightly released her grasp around his torso, without completely breaking contact that she finally answered, "She's in the medical bay. Cisco said she hit her head, but it didn't seem like her head was Caitlin's first concern. They're both with her right now and they'll let us know when they have something."

When Barry took his cowl off, he revealed his features deepened by worry as he sent another quick look at the medical area's doors, almost tempted to rush in there. Iris's own heart clenched at the sight and at the feeling building inside of her, a sensation she couldn't put a word on it just yet. Could it be... jealousy?

Her delicate arms went higher to go hang themselves around Barry's neck as she carefully chose the words that together would form the question burning her lips, "Barry, I'm sorry for asking, especially right now under these circumstances, but I have to know..."

"Okay..." Barry frowned. That sounded serious, whatever it was.

"Before you left for Europe, you remember what I told you? About us picking us where we left when you'll be back?" Her brain was screaming for her to delicately take the man's cheek with her hand, but she held back.

"Of course, I do," he breathed out, wondering where this was heading. So many things happened in the last two weeks.

"Did something happen, or is happening with Olivia?" Finally let out Iris, ripping off the bandage.

"Nothing is going on, I promised," he answered in a heartbeat, "I'm looking out for her because nobody wants anything to do with her since she became a Meta, not even her own family. She's basically like a younger sister," he explained, putting his own arm back around her waist, for one second before his eyes closed up again and he whispered, "I hope she's gonna be okay."

Relieved, Iris smiled warmly, "If she's any sister of yours, she's as strong as they get."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys won't kill me for hurting someone else than Barry. Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts


	19. Bring her back

"Hope you're right. Hope she'll be ok," quietly whispered Barry, not wanting to think about anything else. If only he could know what was going on exactly...

On cue, footsteps made themselves heard as Caitlin and Cisco walked out of the medical room and into the cortex. As the two scientists entered the room, both young people let go of each other in a hurry like two teenagers about to get caught by the overprotective father;

"How is she?" Asked Barry who moved away Joe's daughter and toward his two best friends with concern all over his voice; "What happened? Iris told me she hit her head. Is she gonna ok? What's-"

"She's got a concussion, that's for sure, " confirmed Caitlin, interrupting Barry's ramblings, "but my biggest concern when she arrived here was concerning the numerous internal bleeding she suffered."

Barry exhaled deeply, not liking the sound of that. How hard exactly did she get thrown away to suffer numerous internal bleeding? How bad was her condition?

"Is she…'' he trailed, unsure if he wanted to know the answer to his question.

"Considering her healing powers and how quick I was able to stop the bleeding, she's gonna be fine in a few hours. Or, possibly in the morning, " firmly assured Caitlin, causing Barry to sigh in relief. Taking a grip on himself, he looked straight at Cisco with an unintentional hint of anger in his voice:

"How did she get internal bleeding? Did you leave her alone? Did something else happened other than being thrown into that pole? Were you guys attacked?"

Cisco's lips parted opened as he was getting his answer ready, but Caitlin was faster than him on this one:

"Our Water Meta had nothing to do with it, at least not for the internal bleeding. Olivia actually did it to herself.," stated the doctor who absently rubbed her hands against her blouse that was now covered with bloodstains, Olivia's blood.

"I don't understand," said Barry, how could she hurt herself like that?

"Look, when Olivia heals people up, she doesn't exactly heal them , per say, " tried to explain Caitlin, only succeeding in confusing her audience.

"What she actually does is that she transfers a highly concentrated part of her own energy into her patient's system which allow them to regenerate at a way, way faster, pace than they would normally. She's basically giving her patient the ability, on a short period of time, to heal even faster than she does, which is great in theory. Except, doing this take a lot of energy out of her own system and she needs time to regenerate from the physical strain it takes on her body," elaborated Caitlin, seeing flashes of understanding passing in her friends' expressions.

"So, when she heals a lot of people, she has less and less energy to deal with the stress caused in her own body by her actions" said Barry, completing the doctor's sentence, "and taxing her system with more energy than she has could cause internal bleeding or organ failure in the worst possible case."

Of course, just counting today, she took care of Barry's headache before they went to the lab and after being freed from the pipeline she healed Cisco's sickness. And all of that didn't happen too long before heading into the field where Barry literally dropped more injured next to her as he was emptying the building. He should've known better, he should've taken better care of his friend. Closing his eyes, Barry breathed out heavily; what was he thinking? It's not like he didn't know how hard using Meta powers could be on someone.

"If she's not careful with the way she uses her power in the future-" started Caitlin, only to get interrupted again by Barry who nodded while reopening his eyes.

"She might die," he sighed, dread turning his stomach over at the thought of what could possibly happen, "let me talk to her when she wakes up."

"What about Peek-a-boo? Did you get her?" Added Cisco who only got a glimpse in the distance of their Iron Height escapee. If, at least, they could get one win out of this fiasco it wouldn't have been for nothing.

Sadly, Barry just shook his head; "I tried to get her, but she escaped my grasp. I wasn't focus enough as I needed to come back here."

"We'll get her, we'll get them all," said Caitlin in a weak attempt at lighting up the mood before gently grabbing her friend's shoulder, "you can go see Olivia right now if you want. But, gotta warn you, she's still out."

"Thanks," whispered Barry while forcing a courageous smile on his lips.

"Do you need me to come with you?" Asked Iris, gently grabbing a hold on his arm. After a small moment of hesitation, Barry shook his head slightly in answer before he started walking toward the medical bay all on his own.

During a quick moment, Iris considered following him anyway, but was forced to stay still when she felt vibrations in her jean pocket. Great timing as always. Fidgeting in her pocket, she sent one quick look at the caller I.D., hoping it was a call she could dismiss as she wasn't exactly in the mood for a chitchat right now.

 _Dad,_ said the I.D.

Without more hesitation, she picked up the line as it could be important. Last time they saw the detective, the man was leaving the lab to head to the scene of the explosion and join his CCPD coworkers.

"Hey dad," she tiredly said, not making a single effort to try and mask her emotions, "what's going on?"

"Hey baby girl, you ok? You sound tired."

To be fair, Joe himself didn't exactly sound very energetic; it had been quite the emotional day and it wasn't over just yet. On the bright side, this day was soon gonna be over as darkness was about to take over in an hour or so. Hopefully, the universe was going to allow them a small break for the evening.

"Yeah, it's just...everything. Olivia's hurt," she informed her dad as she walked to the closest chair and let herself fell into it.

"Yeah, I figured," answered back the Detective, "my colleagues reported seeing Vibe taking off in a breach while dragging the blonde masked woman with him. I guessed it was her. Is she going to be ok?"

Instinctively, Iris nodded, 'til she realized her dad couldn't see the motion on the phone, "yeah, Caitlin is pretty confident she will be in a few hours or so. Are you coming back here or you're going home for the night?"

"There's something I have to do first, but I'll come by the lab after. Take care of everyone," added the detective who waited for his daughter's goodbye before ending the call.

As soon as that was done, he turned his head around to take a look outside through his car's window as his black car was parked right outside a small, pale blue, familial house with two floors. Maybe he should've told his daughter where he was and what he wanted to do. Or maybe he shouldn't have come at all. But, for some reason, he needed to talk to these people. He needed to know what really happened in that house three years ago and what their feelings were now.

Before he knew, his legs took him right at the front steps where he knocked three times on the wooden door. Seconds later, approaching footsteps made themself heard and the next moment, the door opened up to reveal a frail and relatively short, about 5'5 feet, woman in her early 50 who had medium short and golden hair. The woman was dressed in a purple blouse and pale jeans.

"Can I help you?" She gently asked, looking past the man to try and find clues on who he was and what he wanted as Joe took out his badge out of his coat.

"I'm Detective Joe West from the CCPD and i'm looking for Mrs and M. Woodward,"

"I'm Elizabeth Woodward," answered the woman, frowning, "what is this about?"

"We're reopening your daughter's missing case as new information came to light," started Joe while taking back his badge into his pocket, "and I've been assigned to the case."

The woman's hand immediately went right over her heart at the mention of her daughter. Quickly turning her head around, she called out in the long hallway for her husband: "John! Come here, this detective has some information about our daughter! John!"

Silence followed for about half a second before Joe heard quick movements in the house. A moment after, a man just as tall as Joe joined his wife with his unfinished shaved and wet short beard and his short brown hair. Looking to be about is late 40 or early 50s, the man in brown plaid shirt and jean was pretty muscular and his features were striked with a mix of surprise and apprehension;

"Did they find her?" He asked to his wife first before turning toward the detective, looking grimly as he was studying the policeman's expression, as he was trying to decipher if the CCPD even found her alive.

What Barry told the team about Olivia's parents kicking her out was fresh in Joe's mind and it would surely explain why they took so long before they started looking for her. Long as in they didn't start participating in the search until way after her escape from the Juvenile rehabilitation center and after she had been on the run for months. Except, what he was sensing right now wasn't disdain or disinterest, quite the contrary, he could feel tension and the concern in the air. There definitely was a missing piece in this puzzle and he wanted to know what it was. He needed to know as Olivia was the reason he got his son back, so if there was anything he could do to pay that debt, he would do it. If there was any way he could pave the way of one day having Olivia reuniting with her own family, he was ready to walk the extra-mile. Family dramas could be complicated and delicate, like walking on eggs, and he needed to keep it under wrap until he had something concrete, he couldn't offer false hopes and promises he couldn't keep.

"Can I come inside?" He gently asked, his question earning him worried looks before the two adults finally nodded. Moving out of the way, Olivia's parents invited the detective inside and guided him straight to the living room at the far end of the hallway.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Offered Olivia's mother as she was about to get seated on the double sofa, on the opposite side of the individual sofa where Joe took place in.

"I'm good, thanks, i'm not planning to stay very long. I've been reviewing the files and there's one thing that doesn't add up."

"What's that?" Asked Olivia's father.

"Is she alive?" Interrupted Elizabeth who couldn't hold back the interrogation, "why the sudden interest in the case? What's the new information? Is she ok?" She worriedly inquired.

"I…" slowly started Joe, moisturizing his lips as he was searching for the right words. He hated having to lie like that to parents who hadn't had a single news about their daughter in years, "I can't discuss with you the details of the ongoing…''

"Detective, please, I don't care where she is, what she might've done…just tell me she's alive"

That simple sentence and the pleading eyes were all Joe needed to feel his heart clench in his chest. No matter what transpired all these years ago, what was happening right here, right now, it was genuine concern; "Yeah, yeah she is. She had been spotted not that far away from here," he vaguely admitted.

"Oh thank God!" exclaimed Elizabeth, her eyes closing and her hand suddenly covering her mouth as her husband gently rubbed her back in comfort.

What was happening around was nothing like what Joe expected from the people who supposedly kicked their own flesh and blood in the streets for being a Metahuman. Taking a second to let the woman gather her thoughts, Joe dared to look around and instantly spotted countless pictures that had been taken years apart of two young people person; a girl he clearly recognized as a younger Olivia, and a slightly older boy. If Joe had to guess, he would say that the boy probably was Olivia's brother. Her dead brother. Two side by side pictures particularly caught his attention. On the first one, taking place on a beautiful beach, the older boy who was around 17 or 18 years at the time of the photo was carrying his sister on his back while holding her legs firmly around his torso. Unaware of all the horrors the future was going to bring them, both young people were smiling widely at the camera. On the second photo, taken during an official photo session in studio, both sibling were much younger, around 8 and 5 respectively, and both dressed formally. The young boy was wearing a white shirt a mini bow tie while Olivia was wearing a beautiful little pink dress with flowers on it. On this photo, the older boy was protectively hugging his sister, keeping her safe from the world. They looked so happy and innocent, why did destiny had to be so cruel with them?

"Look," said Joe, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees while entangling his fingers together, "I've seen in the file that it took you months after she got arrested and after she escaped before you started looking for her, can I know why? "

The relief instantly turned into guilt as John away, avoiding eye contact while wife looked down and put her hair behind her ear.

"Detective, it's...complicated."

"She's a Metahuman, isn't she?" Asked Joe.

"Yeah, yeah she is," admitted her dad, who answered while staring at the two pictures Joe was looking at earlier of his children, uncaring how or why the new detective in charge of the case somehow got hold of this information.

"We had no idea what was happening to her, back then. It was before the Flash started showing up and saving people, " weakly tried to argue the muscular man who was still refusing to make eye contact, "we didn't know what to make of all of this."

"But that's no excuse, we know that now," hurriedly added his wife, "when the Flash started saving people we realized we didn't give her daugher a chance to prove she was still the same person."

Tears of shame and guilt were quickly filling the woman's piercing green eyes, the sames eyes than her daughter; "We just want to see her again."

Joe nodded, taking in the information. Everything was making sense now. Well, almost everything.

"Detective, we know she's technically still a fugitive, but when you find her, can you please contact us, first thing? " Said John, finally looking straight at the other man. "She's the only child we have left and we're ready to do whatever it take to help her get through her legals problems. "

"That's right," approved Elizabeth, nodding, "we've managed to save a sustainable amount of money to get her the best lawyer in town or pay a caution if needed. Just bring our daughter back, please. " she added.

"I will," promised Joe, relieved that the reunion was a real possibility.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

Barry was comfortably seated in his chair next to his friend's bed, watching her chest rise and fall at a regular pace under the warm blanket. Head sensors were placed on each side of her head while a clip on her fingers was monitoring the rest of her vitals. Other than her pale skin and the fact that her displaying vitals were a little low, she didn't look too bad right now and Barry could've easily go sleep in the next room without worrying about her condition, but he just couldn't leave her side. He couldn't, not after everything she had done for him in the last two weeks and, beyond that, in the cave when she kept him alive.

"You know, Olivia, there's something I didn't have the chance to tell you," he started, leaning forward on his chair 'til his arms were resting on the woman's legs, "when I regained my memories earlier today, I started remembering some stuff I thought I forgot completely..."

He stopped an instant as her eyeball started rolling under the lids. Was she waking up? Barry kept his breath for a second, but released it as the woman didn't give any other sign that she was coming back to him. Sighing, Barry kept on going: "You remember when I was prisoner, when you were taking care of me? Do you remember what you did for me? Because, now, I do..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? I'm not that evil ;P Anyone starting to think this story might have an happy ending or...? What are you thinking of Joe's actions?
> 
> Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.
> 
> IMPORTANT: We're now all caught up with everything I've written so far. Plus, I've published the titles and the dates of the final 7 chapters of this story on my Fanfic writer/Flash twitter account. You can find me right here:   
> https://twitter.com/Flash_Katie237 
> 
> Don't be shy to come find me to talk or just stay up to date with some updates I put about my stories there from time to time


	20. Keep fighting for me

_5 months ago_

Pushing past the exhaustion and the pain, Olivia slowly limped her way into the next room of the cave where a new prisoner had been brought in a week ago or so. If only she had some kind of choice about what she could or should do. Any choice. When she first got recruited to take care of the group's entourage, she surely didn't know what she was signing up to. The injuries she saw on the bodies of the first two young males that had been placed in her care turned her stomach upside down more than once and part of her mind was glad their sufferings were over. As much as she desperately wished she could've helped them, she knew she had been keeping them alive so they could be ready to endure more of this unspeakable torture and it made her feel sick every time she entered that room. It was like raising a pig for slaughter. Keeping them alive to prolong their agony was making her an accomplice in all of this and she hated every second of it. She despised the blood that ended up on her hands, both literally and figuratively.

But, still, as much as she loathed everything about this place and what it had done to these people and to her, the young 19 years old blonde was also reeling over the fact she couldn't save them. What if these people had a family? Friends? Wives? Kids? She wanted out on all of this, but she couldn't, not with the threats hanging over her family's head, a menace she got reminded of earlier. That, plus the beating she had just endured when she implied she didn't want to help them anymore, was keeping her from running away. The agony in her injured knee was almost overwhelming at every step and it had her wonder if it was broken or just displaced after the harsh kicks she received. Hopefully, it was gonna be fine by tomorrow morning.

In the dim light of the fire torches, turning the corner, she finally set her eyes on the current prisoner and for about one second, she could've sworn she saw her brother. Maybe it was because of the light or the way half of the young man's facial features were hard to discern because the injuries, but what was recognizable really did look like her brother.

When her limping leg disturbed the little rocks on the ground, the shirtless prisoner started shaking badly. The poor man's face was badly swollen all over, especially in the area around his right eye that couldn't even open anymore while his left eye was struggling to open, only succeeding halfway. The closer Olivia was getting to his position, the more the prisoner weakly fought against the metal chains keeping his hands over his head while blood was running all over his face, his shirtless chest and ruined pants. It was hard to tell, considering how his toes were barely touching the ground, but Olivia was pretty sure that his left leg was broken. The second thing that she noticed as she was closely glancing at the stranger was how half of the countless cuts on his chest looked infected and, despite the light, she could tell that the burn on his left shoulder had been made by acid.

Swallowing her own pain, she gently approached the wounded man who shies away from the hand that closed on his face, "hey, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," she said gently.

He looked just so damn young, so damn innocent. What had he done to deserve such a fate? What had he done to deserve all this pain, especially considering he barely arrived a couple of days ago? The instant she landed her hand on his face, she felt the pain and the agony of his injuries crawling under his skin.

"Shhh, it's okay, it's okay," she soothed, glowing her hand and sending some reassuring heat into the prisoner who relaxed and leaned under the contact, closing his good eye. For a moment, the young blonde forgot about her own pain as she let her personal energy flow inside the man's body, simultaneously warming him and taking care of the spreading infection. Bonus, she could see the burn marks starting to diminish on his shoulder.

Looking back, she made sure nobody was looking before reaching for her water bottle tightly secured between her pants and her skin, needing to share with this man, even if there wasn't much water remaining in her bottle. Like, three good gulps at most, and she knew she wasn't gonna get more for a long while. Plus, it probably wasn't such a good idea to give in to this new idea forming in her head as she didn't have the permission to give anything to the prisoner. But, still, she needed to comfort him even if her own lips and mouth were already dry. She just couldn't help herself as she took off the bottle cap off. Gently, she grabbed the man's head and tipped it back as the young man whimpered in protest with his good eye tightly closed. To be honest, Olivia couldn't tell how conscious and aware he really was and had no idea if he could even understand what she was trying to tell him, but she kept on talking anyway.

"It's okay, I won't hurt you. Just trust me," she said, gently as she pressed the bottle against his lips. Slowly, delicately, she let the water's drops moved out from the bottle and into the man's mouth. The spasms in the prisoner's throat were apparent as he was struggling, and badly failing, at coughing out whatever had been put in his mouth against his will. What could have these monsters been giving him to make this new prisoner so distrustful to all liquid?

His weak attempt almost had him choking on the water until his reflexes forced him to swallow against his will. Whether he realized or not that what he just drank was water, the relief it brought him had the man groaning and begging for more. Sadly, there wasn't enough left.

Olivia smiled, "you fight. I'll do everything I can to make sure you stay alive, but you have to keep fighting for me," she softly whispered to the man she just met, the man she wouldn't know the name for another 5 months or so.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"My unconscious mind probably remembered that moment, somewhere deep inside, and that's why I felt like I could trust you when we met again," said Barry as he finished recollecting that newly recovered memory while looking at an invisible point straight ahead, lost in his memories.

"I'll never forget it," said an exhausted voice from the bed, a sound that caused the hero's attention to swiftly go back to the woman on the bed who still had her eyes closed. Despite the woman's nasal cannula, her breathing was still wheezing as she carefully pronounced her first words since the battle.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Asked the speedster who gently pressed his hands on her shoulders to keep the young woman grounded in the real world as the piercing green eyes opened up to the world. Instantly, he noticed how full of pain they were.

"Been better...what happened?" She rasped.

Barry grimaced, how was he supposed to explain this? How was he supposed to tell her that her powers, the ones she expressed her desire to use to help people and redeem your past action, might kill her in the future if you're not careful?

"What do you remember?" He carefully asked instead of answering Olivia's question.

"I remember being thrown away...I was trying to protect your friend-" she slowly recalled as she was squinting her eyes in a faint effort to try to focus while shielding herself from the light assaulting her eyes.

"I think I hit my head," she also said, wincing, after a short pause.

"Yeah, you did. Our Meta sent you flying," confirmed the speedster.

 _Good thing too that I didn't see that, or our Meta wouldn't have escaped so easily_ , grimly thought Barry, flashes of anger passing in his eyes.

"Is that also why my whole body feels like a herd of wild horses trampled me?" Winced Olivia once again as she was slowly pushing herself in a half-seated position. Barry hurried to come and help her by supporting his friend's back as she carefully shifted around on the bed.

Olivia knew something else was going on, she always had been a smart one. It was probably a good thing that the hero never intended to hide the truth as she would've found it pretty quickly on her own. Barry lowered his head and rubbed the corner of his eye for a second, gathering his words under the suspicious and worried look of his friend.

"Henry? What's wrong?" She asked, not noticing the way she said the wrong name, the name she used for two full weeks to refer to the speedster.

"You passed out because of your powers. They're the main reason you're hurt," he let out.

Silence followed as Olivia blinked a few times, trying to figure out if she heard it right, "I don't… get it. They're healing powers, right? How can they hurt me?"

"It's more complicated than that. Healing all these wounds take a considerable amount of energy, something your body doesn't have an unlimited quantity of, especially if you don't take time to rest and regenerate."

Instantly understanding the situation, Olivia closed her eyes and whispered the next words before reopening her eyes, "I almost died, didn't I? Because I overused my powers?"

Visibly swallowing, Barry nodded as an answer. Smart girl.

"I didn't mean to worry you," apologized the girl who didn't miss how Barry bit his lips or the way darkness pass in his eyes at the thought of what could've happened, "but, hey... Barry-" she paused to carefully choose her words while waiting for the speedster to calm his heartbeat down and look at her, "as much as we can't deny the good times we had in the last two weeks, if we don't take into account the moments of actual fighting for our lives, we need to remember that it's not gonna last. It's all in the past already."

Barry's frowned in confusion, "I don't follow."

"It was nice of you guys to invite me to this team and despite what happened, it was really special to fight alongside you all..."

"But?" Added Barry despite himself, feeling his stomach twitching with worry and apprehension of what was coming next. Where was she getting at?

"I'm still am a fugitive, remember? And soon, I'll have to go back in jail. Soon enough, I'll be gone for a longer period of time than these 2 weeks we've spent together. Meanwhile, you'll be back here, home, and with your family and your real friends," she sadly said, pushing a lock of hair out of her face and turning away from her friend.

"Olivia, look at me," said Barry while gently grabbing her arm to try and gain back her attention, "everything's going to be okay. Don't worry about your legal problems, we'll figure it out together like we always do,"

Olivia finally looked back at him, raising her eyebrows in a sceptical way as she let the man continue his speech while still holding her arm.

"How about we let the Flash talk to the mayor? Or even the judge? We could try and work a deal for you since you helped the Flash. You might end up with a reduced sentence. You might only end up with something like community services during the weekends."

"What if it doesn't work? What if I still go to prison?" She asked, biting her cheek to keep herself from shaking. She didn't want to leave, she didn't want to lose everything she just found here with Barry and his team. She didn't want to lose it all, but that's what her life was all about. People always ended up leaving and abandoning her. They always do. Every time.

Unfazed, Barry kept on smiling tenderly, "Hey, listen, if things don't go our way, I'll come visit you as often as I can. Every day if I have to. Plus, I'll make sure your place on this team is still there when you get back."

Barry couldn't blame her even if he wanted to, that poor girl had been pushed away, kicked out and used by pretty much everyone she used to know. Trust in others and faith that the future was gonna be better wasn't an easy thing to do. The temptation to give in to hope was strong and easily readable in her face, but something was holding her back. Emotions were overwhelming her face as tears started gathering at the corner of her eyes,

"Why do you care so much?" She started with a voice that was threatening to break, strangled by years of suppressed emotions, "you have everything back, I'm not worth all of this."

"Yes you are, girl," firmly stated Barry, "you are."

He gently grabbed the girl's opposite arm to force the young woman to keep looking at him as silent tears started cascading on her pale cheek, "I'm like you, I'm a Meta, and I know that it's not always easy. Except, I had people. I had the chance that my family accepted me and that I found great friends. I'm really, really, sorry you didn't have all of this, because you deserved to be loved by friends who are just as amazing as you are."

"You really… mean it?' Asked the woman, sniffing loudly and talking with a small and barely controlled shaking voice.

"Of course I do. You'll never be alone, never again. I'm here, we all are. You got hurt today fighting by our side and trying to help people and that count. Believe me, it does and my team saw it too. They're gonna now stand by your side too. Promise."

"Thank you," she whispered before leaning forward and giving in to her emotions as Barry got a tad closer to the bed. Catching her falling body, he warmly wrapped his arms around her body. Closing his eyes, he tightened his grip against the shaking body who let go of her years of pain as she started sobbing and crying away the last standing pieces of her emotional walls she had kept for so long.

"It's okay, you are okay girl," he said, rubbing her back.

Both young people stayed like that for the longest time 'til Olivia finally fell asleep in his arms, feeling safer than she ever had since her brother got killed. She finally found another brother who was gonna protect her and this one, she wasn't going to lose him, ever, no matter what.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

_"The Flash is back!"_

_"First multiple sightings of the Flash in 9 months!"_

_"Multiple witnesses report seeing the Flash"_

_"The Scarlet Speedster stopped a fire"_

_"Central City's hero is back in town!"_

These were only a few of the countless titles that had been all over the media in the days following the last attack. And, even a full week later, it was still the hottest subject to talk about in town. Their hero wasn't dead; he was back to protect them and, of course, coincidentally, the doubters were suddenly quiet. More than quiet, they started praising the speedster's exploits like nothing happened.

After the last attack, things finally started to look up for everyone. While there still were three meta criminals at large, they were now keeping it on the quiet side, probably regrouping once they saw their enemy wasn't so dead after all. That and the fact The Flash was now teaming up with not only one, but two allies now. They were probably working on a better plan together, hoping to defeat their common enemy.

Meanwhile, the police finally managed to identify their water Meta; her name was Katie Raven, a 36 years old Central City citizen who didn't have any criminal record 'til today. Except, she did have a file on the CCPD's database as being one of the 27 people who lost their home and pretty much everything when a Meta started a fire in her apartment building last fall, a fire that killed six people. A fire that might've been stopped if the Flash had shown up to give a hand. No wonder she wanted revenge and was trying exposed Flash as a fraud, or at least as a false hero. Since she lost her home, she dropped out of everything, including the local swimming team she had been part of for the last 15 years.

Since the last attack, Barry's focus had mostly been oriented toward training the new and young apprentice he took under his wings. Considering how things almost took a turn for the worst last time, Barry was determined to ensure his new protégé was going to be safe and ready for their next battle, whenever it was going to happen.

Knowing how Olivia could be just as stubborn as Barry sometimes, convincing her to stay on the bench and out of the field missions wasn't going to be an option. But, letting her unprotected and untrained while knowing she could end up worn out and face to face with an enemy wasn't an option either. So, the best, and probably only, solution Barry managed to come up with was to train Olivia. Not just train her to use her powers but get her ready to be able to fight even without them, just in case. It could come in handy, especially since the biggest part of her powers weren't for attacking.

Barry wasn't going to let her down the way he did with Matt, he was going to protect her from anything and anyone, that was a promise. One he knew was mutual. One he knew he was going to keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading as always, leave a comment and go hug that poor Olivia.
> 
> Told you in Darkest Hour that I was gonna be a supervilain eventually, not sure if anyone remember ahah ;) Plus, the vilain's last name is a shoutout to the awesome Electric Raven
> 
> Unless something changes at the last minute, there will be 26 chapters, including the epilogue and it will end on July 20th. I hope you're gonna enjoy the final sprint of this 2 years old story.


	21. Welcome gift

"You're getting better. For an old man," commented Olivia, teasing her training companion, as he gracefully dodged the short synthetic dagger coming dangerously close to her left arm.

After a couple of tries at different fighting techniques, the team and their new member figured out that knives were what the girl was best with for close combat. Why did they even consider anything else? After all, she did kill Hyde's son by throwing a knife at him with quite a good accuracy. Granted, that throw was 27% chance, but she still was a natural with the thing, so she might as well work on that. So, she soon ended up trying to defend herself with two knives in case she would need to protect herself without her powers.

"Nah, you're the one who's getting slow," teased back Barry, comically smirking while retreating a couple of feet to stay at a safe distance from the next attack. Both Metas were fighting in matching grey sweatpants and wearing S.T.A.R lab t-shirts, a black one for Barry and a grey one for Olivia. Her long, blonde braid was rhythmically dancing with her footwork as the young woman was moving around, dodging, and attacking again and again.

While he already had multiple ways of defending himself, plus the ability to just run and retreat when it was needed, Barry still happily joined his new friend in her training. Even if, to be honest, he probably was the one with the lesser skills in that area, he still enjoyed the training. They were hard, but a fun way to pass time with his new friend and introduce her to the rest of the team who was closely monitoring her progress.

"Or you're just cheating and speed dodging my tries," she said, biting her cheek to act as serious as possible while staying on alert. She wasn't Oscar's worthy, but her act was just enough to make Barry frown and wonder if she was serious.

"You do know the power dampening device is still active, right?" Said Barry, slightly turning his head toward the computers of the speed lab just behind him. Sitting on the desk was the small blue glowing device that was suppressing both of their powers to give the two meta the same chances. Standing behind his own gadget, Cisco was observing the scene closely, side by side with Caitlin. As both Barry and Olivia were teasing each other, Cisco couldn't help but giggle at these two messing with each other while the corner of Caitlin's mouth twitched in an amused smile.

The small instant it took for Barry to look away from his adversary became an opportunity Olivia took gladly, lunging forward with the intention of tipping her weapon in her friend's chest. It was going to pinch pretty well, that's for sure, a little something she knew by experience by now. Both practice weapons had been custom made by Cisco to ensure they would be just as heavy and balanced as real ones and yet, while they were sharp enough to pinch and make small scratches, they weren't dangerous enough to cut deep in the skin.

Except, her attack didn't end up as she thought it would. Seeing the swift movement at the corner of his eyes, Barry's fighting instincts kicked in way faster than his brain, even if he wasn't able to use his superspeed. Quickly turning back, Barry's left leg extended itself on the ground while his whole body moved slightly to the right and his two arms moved forward to get a grab on his adversary's shoulders. In one quick second, he managed to move his chest out of the way, just enough to avoid the attack, before grabbing the woman and forcibly throw her away, sending her tripping over his leg. After badly staggering for a couple of steps, Olivia badly stumbled and crashed into the stairs leading up the desks and computers. Her fall ended up harshly as her forehead connected with the side ramp just before her body finally stopped moving, sprawled on the stairs.

Caitlin and Barry both gasped in unison at the accident.

"Oh my God are you okay?" Caitlin asked, her heels clicking on the concrete as she ran and knelt first next to the young woman who was already, slowly, turning around and trying to get herself in a seated position in the steps, "don't try to move too much."

"I'm so sorry!" Exclaimed Barry with a slight delay as his brain was processing what just happened. Prompting himself into action, he rushed to the side of the two ladies while Cisco was running to the power dampening device to turn it off.

"I'm fine," grunted Olivia, who winched while reaching for her forehead with her right hand, wetting her fingers with a warm liquid flowing from the new wound. A clear and bleeding cut was apparent right at the limit of her hair as blood was running down her face and closing dangerously to her eyes.

"Take this," said Caitlin as she gratefully took a white S.T.A.R. labs towel given by the engineer and hand it over to the woman, "it looks deep. Let's get you to the med bay. No more training for today."

"You guys know I'm healing fast, right?" Said Olivia, frowning and already trying to get back up with her shaky arm, the one that wasn't busy pressing the white, bloodstained, towel against her forehead. Seeing there was no stopping her from getting back up, she instantly received help from her two friends positioned on each side by her.

"I wasn't asking," reiterated Caitlin.

It wasn't a fight the Meta was going to win, so Olivia gave in while comically rolling her eyes. Seeing his friend was in good hands, Barry let go of her, but not without gently patting her back in comfort.

"Alright, if training is over for the day, I should probably go check on Amanda and Lindy. It's been a while," finally said Barry which caused both Caitlin and Cisco to turn around and stare at him for half a second. Had they heard him right? Realizing they did, both friends smiled fondly. It seemed like with every new day since the speedster came back, a bit more of the old Barry was coming back to them and back to life. One day at a time. One step at a time.

"Come on, girl," encouraged Caitlin in response to the interrogative look she received from the meta with the long braid. Once the doctor was sure the younger woman was following her and wasn't about to drop from hurting her head, she let go of the arm.

As Olivia sat on the medical bed, her legs dangling off the edge, she stayed as still as possible to allow Caitlin to work her magic. The blonde was looking straight ahead as the doctor put her gloves on before walking back toward her patient to clean the blood away. Olivia winced and flinched at the stinging contact of disinfectant on the open wound, but otherwise stayed still.

"It's not as bad as I feared," concluded Caitlin as she took a closer look, "I think a couple of butterfly bandages will do the trick once I'm done cleaning the wound."

"You do know that you don't have to do this, right? It's going to heal just fine on its own in a couple of hours," said the woman who grimaced as she fought the urge to scratch her wound while the doctor had her back turned on her to gather more of her medical supply.

"Just because you can heal doesn't mean I can't take care of you," added Caitlin before turning around, smiling softly, "bedside, it's been really nice having you around in the last week. I haven't seen Barry this happy and free of a guilt in a very, very long time. Last time was way before he even got captured in the first place," genuinely said the doctor who came back to work on the wound, "just yesterday, he called his boss to talk about getting back to work." The doctor was smiling warmly as she continued, "plus, you're great company."

For the first time since before defeating Zoom, Barry was finally starting to smile and laugh again. Plus, slowly but surely, he was starting to worry less and less about the things he did as The Ghost.

"Who's Amanda?" Asked Olivia, remembering the shared happy expressions she saw on Barry's friends' features at the mention of that name.

"She's..." Caitlin stopped a moment in her task to look at the young woman's face, "she was the wife of Barry's cellmate when he was Hyde's prisoner. The one that got turned into a mindless slave in the cave after Barry. The one we told you he couldn't save."

Oh, right, that man. Closing her eyes, Olivia could still remember his screams as she was passing by the room. She could still remember the man whispering about a woman he loved, a love he was trying to hold on to for his sanity. Olivia nodded, indicating she was remembering.

"His widow asked for Barry to stick around, for Matt. It's actually the first time since his funeral that he actually goes to check on her and her children, mostly on her new baby Lindy."

"That girl isn't gonna grow up alone," whispered Olivia, almost to herself. Every time she thought she knew everything about Barry, the man would find more ways to prove he was an amazing hero.

Lost in her thoughts, the woman lowered her head, a gesture that was corrected by her new friend who straightened it up to finish her treatment. Now that they were talking about children and parents... Caitlin jumped on the occasion to skip right to the next subject while still treating the woman:

"What about you? You thought about going back to your parents yet?"

"Really? You too?" Olivia exhaled deeply. As soon as Barry's foster dad, Joe, spilled the beans on meeting the Woodward and their interest in seeing her again, the whole team started getting excited. Especially Barry. Since then. the speedster had kept on pushing her to go back to her house, again... and again.

"Caitlin, just... drop it. Please?"

Putting the last butterfly bandage over the cut, Caitlin turned around to throw her gloves in the trash, carefully and slowly executing her action to gain more time to think about the best answer, "you told us that you worked with Hyde's organisation because they were threatening your family. So now that all of this is in your past, why are you so against the idea of seeing them?"

Sighing, Olivia scratched the side of her head that wasn't wounded, "just because I don't want them dead doesn't mean I want things to go back to normal. Doesn't mean that they can even go back to normal or that I'm ready to confront them."

"Olivia-" started Caitlin, sitting on the side of the bed to join the young woman, "do you know why Barry is so insistent about all of this?"

Olivia shrugged, "I don't know... guess he's been having it good with his own folks."

Caitlin bit her lips, carefully choosing her next words, "not exactly... Well, actually-"

How to explain what happened to Nora and Henry Allen without stepping on a chat that should be happening between Barry and Olivia? "Well, he did have a great relationship with his parents, while it lasted. But, without going into the details... they died. Violently."

The blonde meta closed her eyes for a second at the shocking revelation and her lips parted as she was about to add something, but Caitlin interrupted her, "look, it's not my story to share, but you need to understand that if Barry had any chance to see them again, he would."

"I'm sorry, I didn-"

"I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad or anything, I'm just saying so you would understand. My dad died too, he had ALS, and my mother and I grew estranged after that event. There's nothing I wouldn't do to go back to a happier time with both of them."

Sighing, Olivia stretched her long legs and jumped on the ground where she stood still with back turned on the doctor and with her hands scrubbing both her cheeks for a moment.

"I appreciate the sentiment," she finally said, turning around, "and what you're trying to do, but it's not really the same thing. They kicked me out. They called me a monster and treated me like one, I can't get the horror in their faces out of my mind,"

Smiling sympathetically, Caitlin lifted her legs off the edge and brought them on the bed, to sit cross-legged, "we're not asking you to move back in, but go talk to them and see for yourself. It might surprise you."

The blonde Meta's mouth twitched between a smile and a contained sigh, the doctor had a point, but it wasn't making it easy. If only she could convince herself that she didn't like them at all anymore, but it wasn't the truth, "thanks, Cait, you're a good friend."

"What? You thought I was just a doctor?" Smiled the older woman.

Both girls turned their attention toward the entry of the room as Cisco arrived carrying a big box wrapped in red and white paper. Even without having been told what was going to happen, Caitlin already had a pretty good idea of what was hidden inside the box.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked, his face filled with excitement, like a kid on Christmas' eve.

"No, it's fine," said Olivia. More than fine, really, she was glad to change the subject of conversation as she needed some time to think on her own about her parents, "what's in the box?"

"A little welcome to the team gift," proudly said Cisco, barely containing the excitement as he handed over the box to the young blonde whose eyes widened in surprise. When was the last time has anyone gave her any sort of gift? Before the explosion that's for sure. "For real?"

After being obliged to steal and be an accomplice to torture and murders just to get a place to stay and food to eat, receiving gifts wasn't something she was expecting anytime soon out of life. She could feel water building in her eyes as her hands softly ran over the box.

"You deserved it, you are a part of this family now," said Caitlin. No need to have seen what was inside to know it was probably a delicate piece of work.

"Open it," encouraged Cisco. The engineer looked more enthusiastic than the person who was holding the gift high in the air and turning it around in search of any flaw in the wrapping paper, so she could start opening it.

When the small fingers found an opening in the wrapping paper, the box got free of it all in a matter of seconds. Gently depositing the box on the bed, right in front of Caitlin's curious eyes, Olivia took the lid off and gasped at the delicate mask that kind of looked like the Trajectory's one except for the fact it was a beautiful mix of blue and purple. The mask was designed to go all around her head and included a small electronic component right next to her left ear that was beautifully shaped in a small yellow lightning bolt. Right next to this item were two half-fingers gauntlets, reminding of the Vibe's ones, except for the small electronic boxes on both gauntlets. Plus, the right gauntlet also had a small light on it, protected under a transparent patch of plastic.

Delicately putting the accessories out of the box and placing them on the bed, slowly and carefully as if they were ancient and priceless artifacts, Olivia took out what was underneath and breathed out once the strong fabric got unfolded. There it was her own beautiful and breathtaking uniform. Except for the blue high V collar, the top of the leather vest was a clear and bright white all the way 'til just below her breast. Under it, it was a beautiful royal blue colour, except for a white band around her waist that happened to have a pale purple line in the middle of that band. The exact same pattern was reproduced on the long sleeves. Black leather pants completed the outfit. At the sight of it, Olivia wanted to cry out of emotions.

"What's all this?"

"It's all yours," proudly smiled Cisco from ear to ear at her reaction, "if you're gonna be part of the team, you deserved your own suit. This-" he said, moving closer to the bed and pointing at the little lightning accessory on the mask, "will help you gain better control of your powers. Thanks to Caitlin's sharing her findings on what activate your healing blue and purple attack, I was able to create a little something that will stimulate the right parts of your brain. Plus, this and your gauntlets-" he added while pointing at the electric component on both devices, "will assist in controlling just the right amount of energy you use for what you need. That way, you don't overuse all your energy on small and moderate injuries."

Carefully hovering her small hands over the tech, Olivia stayed silent. More like speechless. All of this for her?

'Plus, your suit is filled with sensors that will monitor your vitals," continued to explain Cisco to Olivia's disbelief. There was more‽ "And it's all connected to your gauntlets. So, if your powers are ever about to put your life in danger again, a red light will start glowing on your right gauntlet and the suit will block your powers, ensuring we're not gonna lose you like we almost did."

Breathing out, eyes wide opened, Olivia just shook her head slightly, "Guys, I don't... don't know what to say." She really didn't. Now she fully understood why Barry picked them as his friends, these guys were amazing, and she couldn't believe the chance she now had to be part of this team, "thank you. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," Cisco replied as Caitlin stretched her legs and jumped out of the bed to hold the young blonde against her.

"What do you say that tomorrow, first light, we do a test run in the lab?" Enthusiastically added the engineer to the delighted new member of their family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on Olivia getting her own suit ;)
> 
> 5 more chapters to go 'til the end.


	22. Family Matters

"Do I even wanna know what that dummy did to you?" Inquired Barry as he walked out of the shadow of the hallway into the speed lab, letting his presence known.

Before the hero was even close enough to see what was going on, he had heard someone rapidly breathing and occasion grunts, instantly recognizing the sounds Olivia was making under heavy efforts. Indeed, when the speedster had turned the corner he had spotted a fully armoured Olivia in her fighting suit, as she was letting go of the dummy's arm before sharply stabbing him in the chest.

Exhaling deeply, Olivia took her knife out with one sharp move before turning around to face Barry while putting back her weapon into one of the sheaths that had been added on her leather pants.

"I wish could start hitting something, or someone, for real. I can't seem to be able to do any good here, between these walls," she said, taking her mask off and walking toward the small stairs, the same ones she fell down a couple of days ago, to sit next to her friend who was carrying a big bag of Big Belly Burger.

"You can't blame yourself for Katie and her crew kidnapping these five people; we're not omnipresent, no matter how much we wish we could be," said Barry while digging in the bag to grab his friend's burger and fries and handing them to her.

"These people are probably still alive," he continued once his action was done, "there's no reason anymore to kill anyone just to try and prove that the Flash is dead as I already showed myself in public last week. They probably got captured to be used as hostages in a trap, sooner rather than later. We'll need to be ready when the trap opened up for us."

"Yeah... you're probably right," said Olivia, who was playing with her wrapped a piece of food without opening it, "I just wish I knew where they were now. What if we can't save them all? How can you talk so calmly about running into a trap that you know is coming?"

Having finished chewing his first bite, Barry put his food down and played with his hair as he thought about the words he could use to answer her. A cloud of sadness passed in his eyes as he answered, "look, the best we can do is try with everything we got to save them all. We're going to try as hard as we possibly can, but sometimes, things don't go our way. As much as it hurt me to say it, you have to come to grip with the fact that sometimes we can't save everyone."

"But-"

"Joe once told me," continued the speedster, without giving his friend the chance to interrupt him, "that the worst part of this job isn't fighting some cruel criminals or getting thrown on our asses, it's the weight of the guilt when you realize you can't save everyone."

Sighing deeply, Olivia lowered her head, her food still between her hands as her elbows were resting on her knees. She knew he was right, but it doesn't mean she had to be happy about it. As she stayed in the same position for countless seconds, Barry put his arm behind her back to support her as he kept on talking.

"I know you want to help people and save as many people as you can, but I don't want you to burn yourself out doing it. The road to becoming a hero is long and harsh and there will be hard days and heartbreak, but you can't keep all this weight on your shoulders. Try to remember that all these bad things happening now is because of these bad people who are making them happen, it's not all on you. Plus, you have a team that will help you deal with the heartache," he reminded her.

"You are quite wise," she said with a bittersweet smile, allowing her tensed shoulders to relax and fell a little forward as she unwrapped her burger, regaining her appetite. Happy his speech worked, the hero in the beige jacket took back his own food, but still seemed lost in his own thoughts. Noticing the way Barry was blankly staring at his unhealthy lunch, Olivia started talking about it after many minutes of silence.

"What are you thinking about?"

Slightly shaking his head, Barry scratched his forehead with his left hand, "it's gonna sound crazy, but, in a way, I kind of feel bad for Katie. She lost everything in that fire and I didn't do a thing to stop it. How many fires, how many robberies, how many… everything have I missed since disappearing? How many people died because of me?"

Olivia smiled sadly, this man sure was great at giving speeches, but he was not as good when it came to following the advice himself, "Barry, come on, you just told me moments ago that bad things happened because of bad people, don't start blaming yourself for that fire."

Do what I say, but not what I do right?

The speedster looked up at her but didn't say anything, so the woman continued, "plus, it's not like you had been sitting in your living room watching everything unfold on TV with a bowl of popcorn. You had been kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed!"

"I guess you're right," he said, half-heartedly. What were the chances of randomly meeting someone like that, someone so amazing, in Europe? He got lucky beyond words.

"Listen," she said, finishing her last bite, and scrunching up the wrapper, "I've had a lot a time to think in the last couple of days and I would need a favour from you."

"Sure," said Barry in a heartbeat, whatever it was, "shoot."

Nervously, Olivia bit her lips before saying what she had in mind, "I've made a decision… I want to go see my parents, but I can't do it alone. Would you…"

Finally letting go of his mental pain, for now, Barry smiled warmly, happy of the decision she made, "of course, when do you wanna go?"

"How about right after we're done eating and after I'll change my clothes?"

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, maybe I shouldn't have come here," nervously said Olivia as her arm stopped in his movement to go knock out on the door and retracted at the last moment. She wasn't ready to do this, with or without Barry. Except, the puppy eyes she sent at her friend wasn't going to make them turn around now and leave, not after they made it there.

"I'm with you, girl, you can do it," encouraged Barry to the Meta who tried to put a courageous smile on her shaky lips. It might be a hot day for this period of the year, closing on the end of February, and a tad too hot for her long black coat, but Olivia shivered nonetheless when her arm rose again and reached out for the door, her heart uncomfortably throbbing in her chest.

* _Knock knock_ *

Approaching footsteps had Olivia's heart jumping in her throat. Good thing she wasn't a speedster, or she'd been long gone way before the strong wooden door opened, revealing the small and frail woman Joe got to talk to a little less than two weeks ago. Whatever the woman was about to say to welcome the surprising guests died on her lips as she instantly recognized the young woman on her doorstep. Olivia might be a bit older than the last time her mother saw her, but her features were mostly the same now than what they were back then.

Elizabeth's lips parted, and her heart missed a beat, gasping at the sight. Her small arms moved apart from each other and opened in the clear intention to capture the person in front of her in the biggest hug she'd ever given, except Olivia's mother froze before the bodies could touch. Her movement completely stopped before her arms could wrap themselves around her daughter, around her last living child, as she noticed Olivia's body language. The metahuman was completely frozen on the house's doorstep with her eyes wide opened like a deer caught in a car light and completely unsure how to react. As Elizabeth was about to retract, Olivia jumped out of the torpor and reacted, rushing forward, and wrapping her own limbs around her mom's body, drawing her closer 'til their upper bodies were resting against each other. Without saying a word, Olivia's fingers dug deep into her mom's green shirt and closed her eyes. Breathing deeply, she inhaled the familiar smell, the one that kept her safe, reassured and loved for so long… 'til that one day.

Olivia wanted to be angry with her mother, she really did, but she couldn't. The Meta wanted to keep her emotions locked in 'til she knew what she was dealing with, but the little girl inside of her that was searching for her mother's love got the best of her as she held tight the slightly smaller woman.

"I'm so, so sorry Livy," whimpered the older woman as she held tighter for a second 'til she heard her husband's voice coming from behind.

"Honey, who is it? is it that Detective again?"

Elizabeth let go of her daughter as the tall man appeared in the hallway, wearing a plain black t-shirt. The instant his glance fell on his not-missing-anymore daughter, his long legs strode forward. He couldn't care less about the winter wind as he walked out in a t-shirt, needing to touch the person at his doorstep to make sure she was real.

"Oh my… baby girl, you're really here, you're alive," said the man with his already threatening to break's voice as he grabbed the young woman by her shoulder, scanning her from head to toe. It was really her. She was real. She was alive.

"Hey… dad," answered Olivia with a faint smile, the rest of her sentence dying on her tongue before it could manage to get out. What was she supposed to say? So many emotions were assaulting her mind at that moment; happiness about the reunion, bitterness memories of what her parents did... It wasn't without mentioning the surprise to see them so genuinely relieved that she was back. Part of her used to think that what they said to Joe was just an act, but she knew now that it wasn't.

"We never should've let you walk out of the door," said her dad, making Olivia frown and stiffened just a tad. Let her walk? Instantly noticing the way Olivia's face tensed up, her dad shook his head and quickly corrected himself, "I meant we should've gone after you after what we did. It was a mistake. The biggest mistake of my life. I hope one day you can forgive us... If we could turn back time and change everything, I would."

The last words were spoken with difficulty. Was it really tears in the man's eyes? Olivia couldn't remember the last time she had ever seen her father cry. Giving up on holding up her emotions, the Meta allowed her body to relax and to give John the one thing he had been desperately hoping for while being too uncertain to go get himself, a strong hug.

While everything was unfolding, no one seemed to notice the man standing next to Olivia 'til Barry couldn't hold off anymore the grunt he had been repressing has a lump was forming in his throat. Both parents finally moved back and turned to look suspiciously at the young man who had been observing the whole reunion;

"Are you... with the police?" Asked John to Barry, before turning toward his daughter, "does Detective West knows you're here?"

Reality check; the police still wanted their daughter. Taking the lead to answer both questions, Barry spoke up, "Yes... and yes. Detective West is aware of our presence here and I work with the CCPD, but it's not why I'm here."

Technically, Barry hadn't done a single CSI case in almost a year, but hopefully, he still had a place in the force waiting for him.

"Let's go inside, it's a long story," said Olivia, not wanting to tell the whole adventure here. Plus, she was also a tad anxious, but excited, to get back inside. At every chance she had, she was peeking inside to try and see every detail, playing the seven differences game between then and now with everything she could see.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

Partially distracted, Barry did his best to listen to the conversation as his new and younger friend was explaining to her parents how she met the CSI while he was traveling and how they decided to come back home together. It wasn't totally a lie, even if she was leaving out the biggest parts of the story, like the fact they fought for their lives or they ended up finding out that Barry was The Flash. And there was the fact that she was now helping the town's hero. Both parents were seated on the two places sofa as Olivia was taking place in the one-place sofa the opposite side. A wooden chair had been brought in for Barry.

"I just hope, one day, you can forgive us. For everything," tried John, speaking with regret in every syllable, "we can't lose you again, ever."

Olivia tensed up, was she supposed to forgive them right there, on the spot? Thankfully, she was able to relax as she felt a nice pressure behind her back from her friend.

"Are you going to the police station after?" Asked her mom, "we could come with you if you need… want it," she suggested.

"Well-" she started as she turned to Barry in search of comfort before answering, "there's still one thing I need to take care of before I go there, but after, I… we might-" she started to stammer.

Barry smiled tenderly as he watched the scene; the girl's place was here. Sure, she still had some issues that would need to be dealt with and there was still anger and betrayal burning deep inside, but the speedster believed it wasn't anything that couldn't be taken care of eventually. A beeping alert interrupted whatever Olivia was going to say, causing Barry to babble an excuse as he dug for his phone in his jean pocket. When he took it out, Olivia got a quick glimpse at the source of the problem; Joe's panic alarm.

"Seem like there's a work emergency, I've got to go. I'll be back after," quickly said Barry before getting up and rushing toward the outside, leaving his young friend in his trail.

"Excuse me," quickly added Olivia, also getting up from the sofa and running after her friend, grabbing his arm just as Barry was opening the door with the clear intention to Flash away the second he would be out.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" She said, keeping a strong grip on his arm as they moved out of sight and eavesdropping range, closing the door behind them once they were outside.

Looking back at the closed door behind them that was blocking the view from inside the house, Barry sighed, "stay with them, all right? Your place is here."

Olivia frowned, "excuse me? Where is that coming from?"

Sighing, Barry gently took both her shoulder and forced Olivia to look straight into his eyes with sadness in his features;

"You still have your parents, you need to stay with them. What if something was to happen to you? I can't let you come and-"

Harshly moving back, Olivia freed herself from the man's grip on her shoulders, getting a bit more agitated by the second. Who did he think he was telling her how to live her life without asking her opinion on the matter:

"No way!" She protested, "you can't invite me in and leave me hanging like that. What I do with my life isn't your choice to make," she growled, almost in a threatening way. He wouldn't dare take off on her like that, right?

Despite the growing annoyance of his interlocutor, Barry stayed completely unfazed, if not a bit sad; "your family is here. Go with them, stay with them. Please."

Remembering what Caitlin told her about Barry's parents being murdered, Olivia forced herself to calm down just a little and took a deep breath. She needed to see things from his point of view; Barry just didn't want another family to get split up, not just after being reunited. Both friends could go on arguing for a long time on that subject, but time was pressing right now as every second she was taking to talk Barry into bringing her in the fight was a precious instant lost to save lives. If she wanted to convince the man, it was now or never.

"Barry," she finally said, calmly, "family isn't all about blood. You saved me, you showed me a way to redeem myself and you showed me a place where I truly belong. I want to help people, I want to make a difference and, more than anything else, I wanna stick with the family you introduced me to at the lab. I'll go out there and make a difference, whether you want me to do it or not."

She meant every single word in that sentence and the determination was burning high in her eyes, there was no changing her mind.

Pride mixed with worry as Barry yielded, taking Olivia, and disappearing in her the next instant, leaving lightning and wind in his trail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment, so deeply appreciated. Gonna need it for the writing of the final chapters.
> 
> I'm sure there's at least one person here who's happy she, sort of, reunited with her parents. Are you expecting Olivia to go back with her parents once everything is over, including her legal problems? :)


	23. The Final Clash

"What's going on?" Shouted Barry as he made a quick stop in the cortex. Putting down his protégé next to him, his eagle eyes instantly spotted Cisco who was already wearing his leather pant and was putting his jacket on. His gauntlets were sitting on the desk not too far from him.

"Geomancer is on the move at the old lighthouse. Joe and the CCPD are on it," said the engineer as he took his gauntlets off the desk, "they got a tip that the missing hostages were in the abandoned house next to it. Apparently, the house is so close to the water's edge that it's about to fall into the water."

Barry frowned, unsure he understood the whole situation, but it was enough to get going. The hostages were there and in imminent danger, apparently. So, trap or no trap, the hero needed to go. Also understanding the gravity of the situation, Olivia took off running after one quick nod to go get her own suit as fast as humanly possible. Less than a second later, Barry had already rushed toward his suit and came back, fully changed in his Flash attire. This time, he really was in his full uniform, as he was even wearing his white emblem. It really was true now; the Flash was finally ready to get back at being a hero.

"I'll go ahead to check the parameters. You guys can join me," said Barry, looking back in the hallway where he knew Olivia was about to come back at any moment.

"We'll be there in a moment, just don't engage 'til we get there," answered Cisco to his friend who nodded, agreeing to the terms, before taking off in a rush of wind.

When a breach appeared and released the two heroes, both landed safely on the frozen grass, as yesterday's glacial rain melted the thin snow carpet that had been covering the town for the biggest part of the winter. It didn't take too long for Cisco and Olivia to analyse their surroundings and to identify Geomancer standing a hundred feet or so away from them. Their enemy hadn't noticed the new arrivals yet as he was keeping a close eye on the police force that was gathering at a safe distance from where he was. There were at least five police cars parked less than a hundred feet away from the scene and more were arriving. Most of the officers had their gun pointed at the suspect while many others were staying behind to regroup and form a plan. Witnessing the closest police officer getting ready to attack in a not-so-subtle way, Geomancer smiled sadistically and hit the ground strong enough to shake it all the way to his adversaries who barely managed to stay on their feet.

"Try something and the hostages are going down in the river!" He shouted before redirecting his attention toward the decrepit, almost century old, wooden house that was located just a little higher on the hill and standing between the water and the historic Central City's lighthouse that hadn't been in function for the last decade or so. Of course, that part of the hill just also happened to be right on the edge of the cliff and just about to fall into the river. It wouldn't take much to tip it over the edge, like, for say, a powerful earthquake that could aggravate the landslide that had already started.

Approaching yellow lightning announced the arrival of the speedster an instant before Barry made a quick stop right next to his friend; "the hostages are probably in the abandoned house. We need to act quick before it falls into the water. I also haven't seen Katie or Shawna yet, so keep your eyes open. They're probably setting a trap somewhere," said Barry, raising his voice to cover the powerful gust of wind.

Looking back behind the speedster as the heroes heard a loud crashing and splashing sound, Olivia gasped when she saw how another important part of the edge just fell into the river, dangerously reducing the amount of dirt and grass keeping the abandoned house on safe ground. What is possible that the water Meta had anything to do with the slope suddenly transforming into sliding mud? Or was it Geomancer's earthquake that exponentially increased the instability of the land? Both maybe? Either way, time was running out.

"We'll take care of Geomancer, go get the hostages out," Vibe said rapidly; Barry had the highest chances of saving all the hostages in time, especially if the rest of the team could distract their enemy long enough.

"Just be careful," worriedly said Barry, especially saying it to the blonde woman who smiled.

As annoying as it could be to see Barry being so overprotective of her, it was also kind of flattering and cute. But, still a tad annoying, "I'll be fine, you know me, right?"

"That's why I'm worried," teased Barry before taking off, even if only half of his answer was a joke. Olivia was fierce, for sure, but she could also be reckless. In fact, she reminded Barry of himself.

Running inside the soon-to-fall building, Barry went straight to the basement where, sure enough, he found people tied up in the pillars of the place. One, two, three... six. Why were there six prisoners for five missing people? Maybe the extra hostage was someone the group just took today or someone without any family? With the impending threat of falling off the edge, there was no time to overanalyse the situation or to wonder why one of them had a black sack over his, or her, head.

After slowing down just a tad to take mental notes of his surroundings, Barry got back to work as he cut the rope binding the first hostage to the pole. After running outside the man in his mid-40 and putting him next to the police line, the speedster ran back inside to do the same with the 2nd person, and the 3rd. Just as he was coming back, he heard a muffled scream calling out for him. It was a feminine, yet somehow familiar, voice coming from under the sack;

"He'p… ca't...br-"

Oh right, he should've taken care of that one first. Slowing down to normal speed, Barry stopped in front of the masked hostage, "easy, you're gonna be okay," he whispered as he lifted the sack, revealing the features of Shawna, AKA: Peek-a-boo!

"But you won't!" Exclaimed the fake hostage as, before the element of surprise was over, passed a metallic cuff around the speedster's wrists, grabbing him and disappearing out of thin air.

They teleported once, to get out of the decrepit building, then twice to go right on the other side of the house and one final time to arrive behind the lighthouse. Waiting right there was Katie, the water Meta with long black hair who had been waiting for her prey.

Smiling victoriously, Katie advanced closer to the handcuffed speedster who had his wrists tied together in front of him as Peek-a-boo harshly forced Barry to turn around and face the water meta.

"You don't look so scary now, don't you?" she smirked as she was walking around the man, checking him out like some sort of trophy.

"It's not gonna be much of a fair fight with these on, will it?" Said Barry, extending his arms like he was seriously hoping his enemy was going to free him and take the bait.

"Oh-" Said Katie who stopped as she was standing on his left side, "I'm not expecting a fair fight for you...just like you didn't give a fair chance at living to my friends who died in my building."

"You can't blame me for that, I was being captive at that time," growled back Flash.

"Oh, I can, I am. And you should too. How would you like to die, right now? Is drowning good for you?"

As she was speaking, she gently caressed the hero's left shoulder, causing Barry to shiver and to grit his teeth together. Things weren't going well. With his team taking care of Geomancer, he was on his own and even if he could take care of her, there was still the matter of Peak-a-Boo standing right behind him. He was going to need a miracle to get out of this situation alive.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

_A few moments earlier:_

"Flash!" Shouted Olivia as her eyes caught sight of the red uniform appearing out of a thin air and instantly noting that a woman, one that clearly looked like the teleporting Meta they were looking for, was holding him tight.

Before the healing Meta could add anything else, Barry was gone again. Olivia's desperate shout caused Vibe's attention to move away from their opponent and toward the building where he also caught a quick glimpse of his best friend just before he disappeared, fear grabbing a hold on his heart at the sight.

 _Barry!_  he wanted to shout back, but couldn't, not without revealing the Flash's identity or without losing all the focus he had in his current fight.

Things almost took a turn for the worst when they let Geomancer out of their sight for a small moment as the metahuman jumped on the occasion to hit the ground with everything he had, instantly creating a powerful shockwave going straight at the distracted woman in blue and white.

"Watch out!" Shouted Cisco, jumping in front of her.

Improvising in the blink of an eye, Vibe sent his own shockwave, the more powerful one he could manage on such short notice, straight into the ground. As the two attacks collided, the ground rumbled under them and knocked everyone off their feet.

Recollecting way faster than both her superhero friend and their adversary, Olivia jumped back up. She knew there wasn't nearly enough time to get close enough of Geomancer to grab any part of Geomancer's body and use her offensive power before he would be ready to attack them again...or the hostages.

 _Think fast, Olivia_ , she told herself, stretching her right arm down to reach out for the knife attached to her pant. If Barry could see her right now, he would be proud of the agility and velocity with which she took her weapon and threw it at the other Meta, barely taking the time to aim it. Right on target!

 _Yes!_  Thought Olivia. The small and sharp weapon buried itself deep into Geomancer's thigh, causing the man to scream in pain and fall on his knees. Recovering, Cisco jumped back in the fight and into a newly created breach before surging out of it right next to his enemy who found himself handcuffed with one, swift and precise, move. One down, two to go. Looking up at his healing friend, Cisco smiled proudly; great teamwork, the other woman would've probably done the same thing if it wasn't for that other matter heavily weighing on her mind.

"We need to go help the Flash!" She screamed, looking away in the distance to see if she could spot the hero.

No matter how worried Cisco really was, he needed to stay focused on the task. He needed to focus on making sure the situation was under control. Vibe's glance fell on the spot where the speedster had released the hostages, right next to the police line; he counted 3 of them, which meant two were probably still inside.

"We first need to go save the hostages. Barry can take care of himself," he said. Redirecting his attention toward the fallen Geomancer, Cisco shouted, as his left arm extended itself and opened a small breacher next to the duo, "I'll take care of him, GO!"

 _I sure hope Barry can take care of himself now,_  he fearfully thought. If he and Olivia had been fighting two against one here, chances were that Barry could be alone against two dangerous metahumans.

Swallowing her concern and the urge to start sprinting toward the edge and the lighthouse, Olivia jumped straight into that breach. Reappearing in the building's basement, she scanned around and instantly found two more people still tied up. Underneath her feet, she could feel how unstable the ground still was. Even if Geomancer wasn't attacking anymore, the chain reaction he started couldn't be stopped anymore and the landslide was unavoidable now. She needed to act as nobody knew how much time she still had left to save the two remaining hostages; a young woman and a teenager.

"Where's the Flash?" Worriedly asked the young teenage girl, who couldn't be more than 15 years old and who had short brown hair, as Olivia was cutting the rope behind her arms.

"He's... he's in a situation, I'm here to help," stammered Olivia, biting her lips and failing badly at sounding reassuring about the hero's fate. It was killing her not to go to help him at this very second.

"I hope he's okay," continued the girl once she found herself free again.

Unknowing what to say, Olivia nodded and rushed to free the 5th and final hostage from her pole. As her knife managed to get through the thick rope, a sound came to her ears. A sound she identified, without any single doubt, as a gunfire detonation. A detonation that was coming from fairly close to her position.

 _No, no, nonono…_  She repeated in her head, over and over as her constricted throat was unable to pronounce any word.

Who shot who? Was Barry injured? Worse? There were so many possible scenarios and yet, for some unknown reason, her instincts were screaming that something wrong was happening and her guts froze up with dread. Just as a sudden and familiar breach started forming right next to where she first entered, a similar sound resonated in the air, one that stole all the remaining colours from her already too pale cheeks. Last time her guts twisted like that was the day her brother got murdered... Her heart was pumping so hard that all she could hear for a second was the blood rushing in her ears. What if?

"Barry-" she whispered, not realizing nor caring if the hostages heard it, "please... please be okay."

Before she could start overthinking the situation... well, more than she already was, Cisco jumped out of the breach and gracefully landed on the wet ground, making a loud splash on his way in. Was it her imagination or did she just hear another shot?

"Come on, let's get out of here," he ordered with authority.

Grabbing a hold on her shaken emotions, Olivia quickly pushed the hesitating young woman into the breach before following, side by side with the multidimensional traveller. After appearing next to the police line, at the location of the other hostages, Olivia wasted no time in grabbing Cisco's shoulders and dragging him away from the crowd.

"We have to help Barry, NOW! Something's wrong, I can feel it!" She requested in clear despair. She probably looked crazy like someone who was overreacting, but hopefully, her overreacting was all that was.

Cisco's lips parted, but whatever he was going to say got lost as he spotted something going on behind his new, younger, friend. Raising his arm, he pointed at the barely standing house where he spotted Pee-a-Boo standing. Lost and uncertain, the criminal metahuman was just looking around as if she was searching for any sort of support or for something to do. Something went wrong for the criminals, obviously, and that sight allowed Olivia to relax just the slightest. Maybe, just maybe, it meant that it went wrong for Katie, their water-Meta, and not for Barry.

"I'm taking care of her, she won't escape this time," assured Cisco while getting free of the woman's grasp, "you go look out for Barry and make sure he's okay."

He wasn't going to get any arguing from her as Olivia nodded frantically before rushing to the last spot she thought she saw Barry many, too many, moments ago.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

_A few moments earlier:_

"Are we having fun yet?" Katie taunted as she released her strong grab on her prey who couldn't do anything other than desperately coughing out the water that was filling his lungs and fight to stay upright as his knees were turning into jelly.

The next second, he crashed to the ground. Giggling, Katie walked away a little, gesturing around and clearly enjoying herself.

"Really thought it would be more fun than this to kill you... but it's not completely bad. It's kind of sad I can't play too much with you."

Barry wanted to get back up and give one last fight before going down, but all his efforts were concentrated on one thing; staying awake. But the little reserve of oxygen still circulating in his vein at this instant wasn't enough for that. With the world drunkenly whirling in front of his eyes, Barry didn't have the strength to kick Shawna behind him to free himself and even if he did, there wasn't enough left in the tank to win against the other enemy standing in front.

Sighing like a kid tired of playing with their old toys, Katie turned around and faced the red hero again, "let's end this."

Barry closed his eyes, ready for his life to end. Except, instead of feeling hands touching him, he suddenly heard a detonation. It was a gun detonation, no doubt, but Barry couldn't feel any sharp pain in his body. While still on his knees, Barry dared to crack open an eye first, then the other. Barely a couple of feet away from him, Katie was no longer standing; she was now kneeling on the ground with a piece of metal tightly secured around her right leg. Right behind them was Joe West with a smoking B.O.O.T. gun in his hands.

"It's over!" Aggressively growled Joe, letting go of his B.O.O.T. and slowly approaching the woman who had her left knee on the ground and her head hanging low. As she was in that position, her black hair was now covering her face and most of her upper body now. Joe's arm slowly moved toward his inside vest pocket, reaching for his gun even if he knew it probably wasn't going to do much considering the woman was already powerless and attached.

It was over.

Or... was it?

It was at the very moment he thought everything was over that horror unfolded, frame by frame, in front of Joe's eyes. He was so close, so damn close. He should've run to her side and knock the wind out of her before she had any chance to try anything. Before the detective could reach her, or even get out the gun in his pocket, Katie had already reached for her own jean jacket's pocket and took out her own weapon; her own 9mm gun. In a fraction of a second, she aimed the weapon and fired it at the still cuffed speedster who was kneeling in front of her, and whose eyes opened widely in horror as he realized what was going to happen.

As the trigger got pressed, the shot resonated in the air and the bullet went flying. If Barry had his speed, he would've dodged it a thousand times before it could get close enough to cause him any harm. Except, he didn't have his speed. He only had the time to see the bullet charge straight at him and feel the agony as pain exploded in his chest. The rest of his body hit the ground before his brain realized he even got touched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: To kill or not to kill Barry, that is the question! Do you think I'll be evil enough to kill him? Leave a comment.


	24. Go to sleep

"NOOO!" Joe shouted at the top of his lungs, screaming like he had been the one receiving the bullet. Reacting in a blink of an eye, his own gun fired into the woman's back with perfect precision and hit his target straight in the heart. Katie's hand went limp and her whole body crashed to the ground, face first, dying instantly.

Rushing past her and barely slowing down for half a second to take the gun away from the Meta, just in case there was still a breath left in her, Joe dropped down on his knee next to the other gunshot victim. The hero who became like a son to him was lying face first on the grass and a crimson red liquid was running freely in the frozen vegetation under him. It was only now that Joe realized that the second Meta wasn't standing behind anymore. She had apparently decided to run away, or more like teleport away, in the head of the action. But, to be honest, Barry's foster dad couldn't care less at this instant.

"No-no-no," desperately repeated Joe as his shaking hands hurriedly turned the wounded man in the red suit on his back before delicately putting him on his lap to get a better look at the wound.

Joe's heart skipped a beat at Barry's closed eyes. Was the man even alive? Dreading what he might find if he was to search for a pulse, Joe's eyes decided to go lower first and search on the abdomen for the entry wound. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't as bad as it looked a moment earlier. Except, when he finally spotted the small hole in the suit that was gushing blood all over the slightly darker red costume, his heart sank a little further down. The wound was right over Barry's left lung and it was pretty damn close to the heart. Joe's breath got stuck in his throat as the realisation hit him like a runaway train. He suddenly found himself unable to get any air in or out as he gasped, quickly and repeatedly, in an almost asthmatic way.

"Oh God, no. No!"

It would be a real miracle if the bullet had only hit the lung and not any major artery or the heart itself. Joe was no doctor, but he had been a detective long enough to know a mortal wound when there was one in front of him. No matter how hard his brain was trying to shut down and bring him into some fantasy world where everything was going to be ok, he knew there was no coming back this time. No fairy-tale ending and no rebounding from this. I didn't matter how fast they could bring the hero back to Caitlin or how fast they could get Olivia to arrive and help them. It was already too late.

Flashes of darkness passed in the older man's eyes as shock was starting to settle in and his body was threatening to faint. Except, he couldn't pass out, not yet, not while he didn't know if his boy had any breath left in him. He couldn't let Barry die alone.

Before Joe's fingers could slide underneath the cowl, not that it would've been much help as they were shaking way too badly to feel anything, the green eyes snapped open and the wounded man gasped loudly. The piercing eyes of the fallen hero darted around, confused and blurred, as they were clearly unfocused and unable to really see anything that was hovering in front of his eyes. The water gathering in them from all the agony probably wasn't helping either. Barry's glance passed over the detective as if he wasn't there before continuing to gaze around.

Tremors disturbed the whole dying man's body as he shook on his foster dad's lap like a fish out of the water, a dying fish desperately struggling to get a couple of final breathes into his lungs. Barry's breathing was getting more erratic and weak with every try, there wasn't much time left.

"Hu…. u….t," rasped Barry, barely managing the strength to get this one word pass his lips. Drained of all his energy, he closed his eyes in exhaustion once this was done and weakly coughed, pushing drops of blood out of his mouth.

The horrible wheezing noise coming out of the hero with every desperate attempt to breath was breaking Joe's heart into even more millions of pieces that it already was; his son was in agony, suffocating and dying. He might be dying fast, but not enough to spare him all the panic and the pain.

"Shhh, it's okay, it's okay," the detective managed to whisper.

His voice was full of tears and threatening to break at any second as tears were running freely on his cheeks before crashing down on the bleeding chest and mixing themselves with the blood on the suit.

The detective didn't even see the reinforcement as his police co-workers rushed to the scene to assist with Singh leading the charge as they all heard the gunshots. The first thing they noticed, once arriving on the scene, was the woman laying down, dead, with her face down in the grass. Relieved that the threat had been taken care of, they turned their attention to their co-worker and they stopped in their track at the sight of Joe kneeling on the ground, brawling and tightly holding Central City's hero who was struggling a bit more with every breath.

Singh felt the air getting sucked out of his own lungs at the gut-wrenching scene. Deep inside, deep down, he always knew it. Correction, he always had suspicions about the identity of the red hero. He wouldn't be too great of a police Captain if he didn't. After all, the hero started appearing right after his best CSI came out of the coma, then the black speedster gravely injured the Flash at the same time Barry got sick and there were the insights Joe and his daughter always seemed to have on him. Added to that list was the Flash's long absence during the time Barry went missing recently and during the time Barry was recuperating from his ordeal. The list of clues wasn't short, but they were all circumstantial. Until now. The way Joe was holding the hero and grieving his upcoming death, devastated, it wasn't a cop honouring a dead hero; it was a father losing his son and part of his soul.

Officer Garcia made a step forward to get closer to the dying hero. But, whatever he was about to do got stopped by Singh who didn't care whether the man wanted to comfort his co-worker or to take the hero's body away. Either way, the captain couldn't let his employee interfere, so he strongly grabbed the man's arm and slightly pushed him back. Shaking his head at his officer, he pointed at the other body on the ground;

"Take care of the second body instead."

The cop frowned but still moved away to call for backup as the rest of the police force just stared at the scene in silence.

"D… ad? M… Mum?" Whispered Barry with half-opened glassy eyes. His breathing was wheezing and every breath, every syllable, was taking a tremendous effort, an effort he didn't have any more as life was slowly leaving his battered body.

"Go to sleep son, don't fight it," choked out Joe with puffing eyes as tears were torrentially falling on his son's soon-to-be body, "I'm here, you're okay, son."

The green eyes moved a tad, just enough, to finally make eye contact with Joe's for the first time since getting shot and a small, peaceful, smile appeared on his lips. Barry was ready to go. The moment the boy's body went completely limp in his arms and as the Flash expelled one final breath, Joe buried his head on his son's unmoving chest, hysterically crying and howling in pain. His whole soul was breaking apart from the inside as he couldn't feel Barry's short breath against his skin, nor could he feel any more of the irregular rising and failing. The police crowd stayed silent behind; some of the officers frozen in shock and some were making a prayer for their hero's soul while the rest, including Captain Singh, were just crying, and trying to be as silent as possible out of respect for their fallen hero.

Grieving beyond words, Joe didn't hear the commotion going on as someone was ruthlessly pushing the officers to make her way to the scene, only to stop and gasp in shock at the scene.

"FLASH!" Screamed Olivia's voice, "Oh God. NO!"

Her long blonde braid danced in the wind as she sprinted next to the fallen hero, shaking all over and pale as a ghost.

"No-no-no, don't do this to me, don't do this," she whispered in sheer panic as she pressed both of her hands on the pool of blood, only to get stopped by a devastated Joe who had his face full of tears. Reluctantly letting go of his son's body, the detective used his right arm to grab Olivia's left one.

"Stop. You can't, it's too late," he whispered, whimpering in in pure agony.

Olivia's eyes widened at the words. Too late? Was it? Her eyes fell on the hero and her stomach turned upside down in dread, almost making her vomit all of his content as she realized with terror that, indeed, the man's chest wasn't moving at all. NO! Snatching her arm free from Joe's grasp, she tried again to put her gauntlet wearing hands on the wound.

"I can't lose him! I can't lose another brother!" She screamed in despair.

"You can't save him, you'll die. You can't bring him back," shouted back Joe, grabbing her again.

"I don't care," choked out Olivia, tearing up and shivering, "I-," her next words got stuck in her throat as she choked on her emotions, gasping for air and feeling tears cascading down, "you have to let me save him," she desperately pleaded, "I might still have a chance."

Impossible to tell if these words had been spoken up in denial or in true, sheer, determination. Either way, Joe couldn't let her go ahead with her plan. The man, whose vision was obscured by tears, just shook his head. "We can't lose you both," he argued back. Grabbing both of her forearms, he immediately sensed the tremors under her blue suit; the poor girl was slipping into shock faster than he was.

"Please, please, let me try, I'm begging you," she pleaded, crying and sobbing desperately. She would never be able to live with herself knowing she sat there and watched Barry's body without at least trying.

The temptation to just go ahead and give a try at cheating death was so high. So tempting. Joe knew that with each extra second of inaction, the chances to actually saving Barry were going slimmer and slimmer, but, if they were to save him, IF, what were Olivia's chances of survival? What if she didn't make it? What would Barry think? How would the hero look at Joe knowing his foster dad let the woman sacrifice her life?

Or, worse, what if they were to lose Olivia before she could save Barry? What if they were destined to lose both of them? Could the team even move on from that double lost?

"Please, Joe-" she said, calling the detective by his name for the first time, "this is why I came here, this is why I joined the team; to do good. To save lives. The best chance this city has to stay safe is if Barry lives, he's far more important than I'll ever be."

Closing his eyes, Joe bit his lips and swallowed his saliva. How was he supposed to make this impossible choice? How was he supposed to make a fair choice? As much as the whole team, including himself, has grown fond of the blonde woman, she wasn't Barry. Would it be the right choice or a selfish one to give her the green light? Unless, deep down, he knew that she could save his son and stay alive. Slowly, with his eyes closed, he let go of Olivia and pushed Barry's body off his legs and on the ground.

"Then save him," he begged with difficulty before opening his eyes, just in time to see Olivia biting her own lips and nodding with shaken determination. She was going to try until the pain would be unbearable if she had to, but she was going to try dammit!

Pressing both her quickly-becoming-red gauntlets in the blood pool, she closed her eyes and took the deepest breath she ever took in her entire life, before letting go of a short, but high pitched, scream as her powers activated and connected with the victim. She could feel it, the pain, the darkness... she could've sworn she felt Barry's soul trying to leave his battered body.

"You stay with me, Barry, stay with me," she ordered under the intense gaze of Joe as the man was silently crying, hopeless. The young woman could feel sweat running down her forehead under the intense effort.

Shouting like a bodybuilder about to lift a record weight, she harnessed and redirected every single bit of energy she ever had right into her hands and in her powers, pushing everything inside Barry's body.

"ARRGG!" She howled as a particularly intense wave of agony flowed inside of her and spread all over, almost making her break contact.

"OLIVIA!" Shouted Joe, not caring about the fact he said her name so close to all the cops who were watching and holding their breath at the drama unfolding, "let go!"

His voice boomed as he tried to surge forward to grab her. She couldn't do it and he wasn't going to lose them both!

Except, the instant his fingers brushed the white and blue suit, he instantly backed off, gasping in pain. It was burning like fire. The Meta was burning up and generating way more powers that she could safely handle. The blue energy was now spreading not only over her victim's chest, but around the healer's own arms as she screamed louder, but didn't let go, even if blood started pouring out of her nose and ears.

Suddenly going slack and letting go of the contact, the young woman staggered. Quickly, she extended her right arm to touch the ground behind her to prevent herself from falling on her ass. Pale, breathless and bleeding from her nose and ears, she didn't look too good. For a split second, Joe dared to hope she stopped because she was done healing his son and everything was going to be okay. Wishful thinking. Looking down at the gauntlets, he saw a bright red light flashing in alert; the Meta just reached her breaking point. Returning his glance at the hero, Joe instantly saw how nothing seemed to have changed as his chest was still flat and unmoving, it really was over.

"No..." he moaned in realisation.

Groaning in frustration, Olivia hit the ground with the little force she still had left. Big mistake as the world whirled in front of her eyes and she felt like passing out for a moment there. Hanging on to consciousness, her glance landed on Joe who was overtaken with grief, burying once again his face in his son's chest and howling in pain. It couldn't be it, it just couldn't. The world froze around her as the realisation hit her like a brick; Joe was right, she couldn't save both of them. At least one of them wasn't going to see another sunset.

"I can't lose you, brother," she whispered to herself before, in one quick motion, she took her first gauntlet off, then proceeded with the other one.

Just as she threw them away, close to the police force who were still witnessing her every move, Joe finally saw what she was doing and understood it right away.

"Oli-" he said, slowly, hesitantly.

"Please," she interrupted him, both of them knowing there wasn't any time left to lose. Her decision was made, "just tell Barry how much I'm sorry. Tell him I could never thank him enough for everything. He gave my life back, he gave me a meaning and a home. He gave me a family. You guys will always be the best family I never had… I'm so sorry," she choked out.

"I will," barely managed to whisper Joe with a lump in his throat as he let go and backed off for the hero's body.

Just behind them, a blue portal appeared right next to the abandoned gauntlets. As Cisco jumped out of it and saw them, then the scene unfolding right in front of him, his eyes and mouth opened up in shock.

"DON'T!" he screamed, except he was too far to intervene in the next second or so.

"I'm sorry," whispered back the woman as she swiftly turned back her attention to Barry, putting her hands on his chest and releasing all the powers and energy she had left. Her actions left her screaming in agony, feeling like acid was running through her body and veins, destroying her from the inside. Her scream was a sound that would never leave the present and conscious members of Team Flash's mind.

"NO!" Shouted Cisco, rushing in, but stopping a couple of feet away, unknowing what he could do other than fall on his knees next to his best friend's body who was now completely enveloped in the beautiful blue energy.

After what felt like hours, but were only seconds in real time, everything stopped as fast as it started and the blonde woman fell like a rock on her side, heavily bleeding from her closed eyes, nose, and ears. Gently, yet urgently, Cisco turned her on her back, fearing for the worst, as he dug his finger in her neck while Joe was doing the same with the other fallen hero. Their two horrified gazes met just before the detective spoke up again, urgently, "we have to take them to S.T.A.R, NOW!"

Nodding, Cisco rose his arm to comply and opened an emergency breach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I put my heart and soul into that chapter, it would really mean the world to know your thoughts on it. leave a comment.
> 
> I can promise that I cried while writing and editing that chapter and almost chose, earlier this year, to not go with this ending. I'm sorry everyone for the feels and the tears. Who need a hug? You'll see in the next chapter if anyone of the two survived.


	25. The ones left standing

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong and Barry could feel it in his entire body as he came back to the world of the living. The man had no idea what it was that was causing him so much distress, but he knew, deep down, that it wasn't just his imagination. Except, despite his desire of learning more, all his body wanted to do right now was to go back to sleep. He was so tired and so sore, everywhere... If only the voices could stop talking and let him rest.

"They're here," whispered a feminine voice not far away from him, "I explained to them everything."

"Are they gonna-" asked a familiar man's voice.

"Not until Barry gets in there."

A third person sighed deeply at that answer. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good, "what are we going to tell him?"

At the sound of his name, Barry turned his head to the side, trying to listen to what was being said. If he could just hang on to consciousness for one more moment he might hear why these people were talking about him. So tired. Why was he so worn out? What was he doing here, in that position and that state in the first place? His chest was in pain, like a horse or possibly a whole herd of horses, ran him over. Every single breath was just so difficult to get out, or in for that matter and that thing obstructing his face wasn't helping. Unless it was helping him and it was just his confused and foggy mind being unable to put two and two together... What was it anyway?

The speedster tried lifting his arm with the intention to get that thing off his nose and mouth, but his limb was just too heavy, just like every part of his body. Giving up on the idea, after barely managing to lift his arm for an inch or two, Barry let it fall back on the bed and grunted from the effort. The sound he produced caused the group next to him to suddenly go silent and approach him;

"Barry, you with us?" Asked the women's voice again. It sounded like Caitlin and the hero wanted to say something, but he couldn't as he drifted back to sleep.

When it came back to, he instantly found out that, first, it was a lot easier to breathe and, secondly, there wasn't anything on his face anymore. Feeling a lot less worn out, he managed to gather the strength to open his green eyes and to look at the ceiling of the... Wait. This wasn't the med bay. It was the speed lab. What was he doing in there? That one and simple observation had his heart rate doubling his speed in an instant. It just confirmed what he felt the last time he woke up; something was terribly wrong.

Alerted by the screaming and recognizable sound of a heart monitor, rapidly approaching footsteps were heard.

"Barry?" Worriedly asked a voice. No doubt now, it really was Caitlin's voice. Moving his eyes to the left and blinking a few times to clear his vision, Barry managed to confirm the identity of the person. "Calm down, you're okay."

As if she was trying to prove her point, Caitlin gently laid her right hand on his left arm and started massaging it gently, slowly. No matter how gentle she was, it wasn't calming the speedster down. Barry's instincts knew he shouldn't be alive; he was dying earlier. If there was one thing his foggy mind was certain of, it was that. He was dead or at least should be. Barry could remember the agony and the anguish as his life was slowly leaving him, and he could have sworn he somehow heard his parents calling out to him as the world around him slowly surrendered to the darkness.

The speedster remembered getting shot in his chest and he shouldn't be alive and yet he didn't feel dead, not at all. No matter how amazing of a doctor Caitlin was and how much faith the hero had in her, he knew there was no coming back from that. There was one explanation Barry could think of, one very plausible explanation, but it was also one he didn't want to consider or think about it. If he was right about his condition on the battlefield and if he was right about his theory…. his world was about to shatter, again. And that was something he wasn't ready for, so there just had to be another explanation, something simpler. Maybe he was just wrong, maybe he didn't get shot after all.

Blinded by the light assaulting his fragile eyes, Barry closed them before rasping, "where is she?"

Silence followed and Barry swallowed the lump building in his throat.

"How are you?" Caitlin finally queried, letting go of her patient and changing the subject, her action making Barry open his eyes to look straight at her.

The hero wasn't stupid; he could clearly see the way his friend was biting her lips and avoiding the one and only subject he wanted, needed, to talk about. The fact that Caitlin moved away by a couple of feet, looking away, just confirmed his suspicions.

"Where. Is. She?" He repeated, slowly, deeply, and emphasizing every single word.

"She's… in the medbay Barry."

So, she was alive? Right? If Caitlin said she was in the medical room, instead of him, she had to be alive. Probably hurt and in pain, but alive. And she needed him, now. That was the only thought in Barry's head as he pushed aside the blanket covering his legs, not caring how he was shirtless and in boxer underneath and reached out for the sensors on his chest.

"I want to see her," he almost ordered, as Caitlin rushed and closed the remaining gap between herself and the bed, but not before he had already detached the sensors from his body.

"Barry, it's probably not a good idea, you should be resting," she argued, biting her lips nervously and grabbing her friend's hand before he could take out the needle in his left elbow.

The hesitation, her anxious features and her slow and sloppy movements… they were all new and undeniable signs that she was hiding something or lying badly. Good thing Barry's heart wasn't connected to the monitor anymore as it picked up the pace even more and he felt a shiver passing in his back.

"Where is she?" He repeated, loudly.

Shifting in his bed, he was getting ready to get up, which prompted Caitlin to push against his shoulders in a faint effort to keep him down.

"I didn't lie, Barry, she's in the medbay. She's...alive. She's just...not..."

She was alive. She really was. It was the confirmation Barry needed and the one that should've calmed him down, but it didn't. Dread kept on filling his inside and his features just continued to decompose. But, he froze up and stopped wrestling around, a short and temporary win for the doctor. In his half-calmed state, the speedster allowed Caitlin to help him get into a half-seated position instead of laying flat, which was a nice compromise between that and getting back up. Good thing he wasn't standing up when the prognosis was pronounced in the next instant or he might've fallen down completely.

"She's in a coma, Barry, and it's bad. It's really, really, bad."

Barry's mouth opened up in shock and tears instantly filled his eyes as he blankly stared at the doctor.

"No..." he whimpered, suddenly feeling weak as his heart painfully clenched in his chest.

"It's-" Caitlin's sentence stopped midway. Is it going to be okay? No, it's not. The doctor's glance looked back at the chair that was the closest to the bed, almost going to sit on it. No, it didn't feel right to sit right now, Barry needed to truth and Olivia deserved someone strong enough to stand up as the news was delivered.

"You got shot, Barry, and the bullet probably hit a lot of your organs, including your left lung. You… you died, Barry. You died in a matter of seconds and-"

Caitlin stopped, almost choking up on the words as her brain decided to send her straight back to that moment where she helplessly witnessed her best friend's vitals crashing at an astonishing pace on the screen. No matter the ultimate outcome, she knew that memory was never going to come out of her head, she was never going to be able to forget the moment when she was unable to do anything else other than stare in dread. The sensation of feeling her own heart stopping in synchronicity with the monitor and feeling the cold of death itself clenching her insides will always be with her.

As the hero stayed silent at the reveal, staring back in shock, Caitlin grabbed a hold of her feelings and continued her explanation;

"Olivia brought you back. I'm not sure how, but she did. She did an incredible job fixing most of the damages the bullet had done to you; there was no trace left of it when you arrived at the lab. Somehow, the bullet completely dissolved in your bloodstream and while you still were in bad shape, it wasn't fatal anymore. You went from being mortally wounded to suffering from a perforation in your left lungs, blood in it and some other internal bleeding. Except-"

"-it destroyed her, completely, didn't it?" weakly whispered Barry, with his bottom lips shaking.

Caitlin closed her eyes, nodding painfully. She wasn't sure her shaking voice could pronounce the words without breaking, but she still gathered the strength for a couple of seconds as she needed to say them out loud, "yeah, it did."

"Did she suffer?"

Caitlin exhaled deeply at the question, tempted to lie. But, was what the point of sugar coating it? If one thing, Barry deserved the truth after everything he's been through. In the last year, he's been kidnapped by Hyde, starved, tortured, changed into a monster, turned back, saw his new best friend killing himself before his eyes, travelled to Europe, destroyed his enemy's organisation, met a new sister and learned she just sacrificed herself to save his life.

"Yeah. Yeah, she did," she answered quietly while looking away and avoiding eye contact, not wanting to see the agony she probably just inflicted on her friend.

Swallowing badly, Barry shivered and nodded with difficulty, "thanks for the honesty," he answered back. The doctor barely even heard it as Barry's voice was barely above whisper like he was afraid he wouldn't be able to control it if he was to raise it higher.

"What if... what if she wakes up?" He said hopefully, after a long silence. It was with desperate, pleading eyes, that he looked up at his friend who was still refusing to look at him, preferring to stare at the wall and the speed lab's computers.

"Barry, listen, she suffered horrible injuries because of her actions. She suffered countless organ failures, really bad internal bleedings and a ruptured aneurysm, which led to a severe intracranial haemorrhage. She's-" Caitlin took a moment to regain some composure before continuing, feeling her eyes filling up with tears and her voice shaking under the emotions, "she suffered from extensive brain damages. Even if we did manage to restart her heart in the lab, it's too late. She's been on artificial support and there'd been no cerebral activity since she came back, three days ago. Even if she does wake up, which is a chance in a million at this point, she'll never be the same."

The doctor really was expecting Barry to do… something. To be honest, she didn't know what to expect specifically, but she thought for sure Barry was going to be overwhelmed by emotions once hearing the news. But, no, nothing. Instead, the speedster just closed his lips and put his stoic face on.

"Her parents are already here and they said their farewells. They're waiting for you to be ready to do yours before we-"

Caitlin swallowed with difficulty before she could say the words. It was getting harder and harder to keep her professional doctor face as she was trying to explain to her friend that they were waiting for him to see Olivia one last time before pulling the plug on the machines that were keeping her alive. Still staying as emotionless as possible, Barry nodded slightly before slowly, almost dramatically, turning his head in the opposite direction in total silence.

"There's no rush to get in there, you need to recuperate first. And if you want to talk about i-"

"Leave me alone," harshly requested Barry, still looking away. His words cut like a knife into the doctor's heart, all she wanted to do was help.

"Barry-" she tried, reaching out for his shoulders, but stopping mid-air as Barry shifted away before repeating himself.

"Leave. Me. Alone," he growled, angrily.

"Alright... I'll be in the other room if you need me," Caitlin said sadly, yielding and passing her hand in her hair as she turned around. Before passing the door, she stopped and turned around one last time, wondering what she wouldn't have given right now to give him some comfort. If only there was something she, or anything, could do. Except, the people who could've helped him, Matt and Olivia, were both gone now. On her way out, she brushed Iris' shoulder as the reporter was about to get back in the room with Cisco.

"Hey, what's going on?" She instantly inquired, seeing the silent tears starting to fall off Caitlin's wet eyes.

"He knows," she whispered, crying both for the speedster and for her own grief.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

The medical room got completely cleared out the following morning as word spread that Barry was ready to go back on his feet and demanding to go say his farewell. The speedster didn't look too good with his puffy red eyes and the dark circles around them as he entered the room. It had probably something to do with the fact he just sobbed and cried himself to sleep last night, only falling asleep right before dawn.

"Hey girl," rasped Barry, with his hoarse voice.

He was alone now. He was officially the only survivor of everything he went through in the last 9 months. There wasn't anyone left to talk about the horrors he's seen and endured, there wasn't anyone left alive who would actually understand.

Sniffing and shaking from head to toe, Barry sat down on the chair next to the bed, gently touching the delicate arm that was way paler than what it used to be. With every passing minute, every new detail he saw crushed his heart a bit more; a ventilator was pushing oxygen in the battered body, wires were connected everywhere and sensors were connected on each side of her head. Her face had been completely cleared of all blood and her long beautiful blonde hairs were resting untie behind her back as the machines were beeping steadily, keeping her body functioning 'til…. 'til outside source will pull the plug.

"I let you down, I should've protected you, I never should-" Barry cut his sentence short as he needed to take a couple of shaky breaths to regain control of his voice and his violently shaking body.

"I can't do this without you," he added, sobbing and hiding his face between his hands as he clearly was on the edge of breaking down. What kind of hero let all of his friends die like that?

A couple of days ago, he was ready to get back in his suit and be a hero again, but now? How could he ever be one again? Rising his head, he tried reaching out for the too-still hand, but he choked out halfway, unsure if he could make contact again without losing it completely. Why was it so hard to get any oxygen in? Barry breaths were becoming shorter and faster by the second, sounding more and more like a choking sound, 'til high heels clicking on the ground made themselves heard. The hero didn't move an inch, nor did he turn around. There was no strength left to care about anything anymore. Hell, at this very instant, he didn't have the energy to keep on going with his life in general, he couldn't care less about getting his job back or what Central City's citizens were going to think about their hero disappearing again. It seemed like everything he was touching ended up dead. Always. Like Matt. Like Olivia.

Not a word was spoken, but a moment later, arms wrapped themselves around him from behind as the hero choked out;

"I k-k... ki… killed... he-" sobbed Barry while putting back his head in his hands, crying with everything he had.

"Shhh, it's ok, Barr, it's okay," soothed the voice. Iris. The reporter patiently waited in that position until Barry was ready to lift his head again and wipe his tears away, sniffing.

"If I hadn't met her… if I hadn't... she would still-" he pronounced with all the difficulty in the world.

"She would still be a prisoner to those monsters," reminded Iris, gently kneeling right in front of the speedster and taking his hands between hers.

"Maybe if I had found a way to make her stay with her family, she-" the man tried to argue back, his wet eyes lowering to look at the ground.

"-would've run on her own into the field anyway and would've been too late to save you," interrupted Iris once more, trying to help him see the truth beyond his overwhelming grief. "It's always been easier for you to blame yourself for everything, easier than blame the ones actually responsible, hasn't it? "You need to remember that it was Katie who shot you down, she's the one who caused all of this."

Barry sniffed again and tried to look away, "I just want her back, I just..." he whispered, looking down at the soon-to-be-dead Metahuman. All he wanted was to hear her voice one more time. He needed to see her braid dancing as she walked. He wanted to hear her laugh again... was it too much to ask?

"I know you do, Barr, I know. So is everyone here. Cisco, Caitlin… they've been keeping the strong facade for you, but I've seen them as they tried to save her during these three days. While you were recuperating, I can assure you they were devastated by her fate too. Believe me," continued Iris, still keeping a strong, yet gentle, hold on the man's hands.

Despite the reporter's best efforts, her cheering only had the opposite effect as Barry exhaled loudly, before getting his hands free and gently caressing her too-still friend's hand.

"More pain because I killed her."

Delicately, Iris touched the man's chin and moved it around 'til he was looking back at her with new tears running down his cheeks and down the trail made by the ones from last night, "Barry, she didn't die because of you, she died for you."

Barry scoffed, "what's the difference?"

"The difference is, you didn't pull any trigger nor did you cause her death. She chose to sacrifice herself for you. She chose to exchange her life for yours knowing that every person you're gonna save in the future is going to live because of her action."

Slowly blinking, Barry stared back at the woman, thinking intensively about what she just said. The hero didn't even notice how water suddenly stopped rising in his eyes. Iris was right. The pain was still burning him inside, but something was different. Did he have the right to let everything go, to stop helping people, after Olivia's sacrifice?

"I don-"

Iris smiled, interrupting him once more, "just, think about it, alright?"

Swallowing the pain, Barry nodded as the girl got back up, kissed him on the forehead and slowly left the room as fast and gracefully as she entered it, leaving the man to his thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: One more chapter to go for the trilogy, leave a hug for Barry and a comment ;) Sorry for the tears everyone


	26. The neverending story

It took a couple of extra days for the girl's parents and for Barry to finally be ready enough to agree that it was finally time to let her go. No matter how ready they thought they were when they let their decision known, their agony was apparent in all of their features when the time finally came.

It was in almost complete silence that, ceremonially, Caitlin moved toward the machines as she was getting ready to turn the ventilator off. Her every move was being closely observed by the girl's parents and by Barry who was standing right next to the bed. The mother's sobbing was covering part of beeping sounds of the machine while Barry was desperately trying to hold it together. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to hold off the silent tears that were falling down his cheeks. The rest of the team was standing just outside the room, staying strong for both their friend and for their dying teammate. Feeling drawn to the scene, Iris put a foot forward to try and get closer to the grieving people, desperately needing to comfort everyone inside, but her dad grabbed her arm and stopped her, shaking his head; everyone in the room needed a moment.

Barely containing a sob, Barry went directly next to the bed and gently put a blond strand of hair behind the pale ear, one last time. Once that one action was done, his hand slowly touched the right arm and smoothly brushed it all the way to the hand, whispering.

"I'm with you, 'til the end. You can rest now. We'll be okay."

Caitlin didn't dare to move or disconnect the life support as she listened, with tears filling her eyes, to her friend's final words. Why was life so cruel? Olivia didn't deserve to go like that, so soon, so young… Barry took a second to moister his shaking lips and try to grab a hold on his shivering body before continuing.

"Thank you. You'll always be a sister to me, the best I'll ever have. Thank you for taking me home, I just wish I could've done the same to you," he quietly whispered.

"You did it, you took her home,"' whispered back Olivia's dad as he was unable to detach his eyes from his daughter.

Barry swallowed with difficulty and didn't add anything, unsure if he believed these words or if he would be able to say more without breaking down. So, instead, he just stumbled back a few steps before falling into the closest chair as his legs suddenly turned to jelly. As Elizabeth, Olivia's mother approached the bed and leaned to give one final kiss on her youngest child's forehead, her husband subtly nodded to the doctor, giving her the go ahead. When the ventilator and the rest of the life support got disconnected, the monitor displaying the blonde Metahuman started screeching loudly to indicate that Olivia's beaten body had finally given in to all the devastations inside it. No matter how loud it was, Barry barely heard the alarm as he sobbed and whimpered in grief; one more victim to his mistakes. One more family destroyed because he was unable to protect the people he cared about. One less friend in his own family. And, now, there was no making things better or making up for it like he did when he went to Europe after Matt's dead. This time, it really was over and it was up to him to move on… or not.

The alarm died and the room went quiet again, except for the howls of pain coming from every single person surrounding the bed, or behind this group.

The screeching of a chair's legs being pushed on the ground was the first distinctive sound to be heard on the scene as Barry moved it to get back on his feet and rushed out of the room, struggling to keep the little composure he still had left.

"Barry-" started Cisco who moved into the hero's path before he could run away, "maybe you shouldn't be alone."

"I-" started Barry with a barely controlled voice as he rose his hand up, "I just need to be alone."

"If you need us-" wanted to say Joe, but Barry just shook his head to interrupt.

"I will need you... but not now."

The detective sighed but still moved out of the way. With a subtle gesture with his head, he encouraged the engineer to do the same, which he did in the next moment after a short hesitation. All they could do right now was hope the hero would find his way back on the right track and move on from all of this.

A couple of days later, the speedster made his way out of precinct elevator and took a deep breath. It might have been almost a full year since the last time he walked out of this place, right after his dad died, but it felt like nothing changed. Maybe it was because the decor was pretty much the same and because Barry instantly recognized most of the faces who were waking, too deeply concentrated on their thoughts or too busy talking to their partner to see the young CSI who just came out of the elevator. Not that the CSI was in any hurry to be the centre of attention, he had enough of that at the lab in the last couple of days with everyone wondering if he was ok, physically and mentally.

"Hey, Barry!" Shouted a feminine voice. So much for staying unnoticed. Turning his head to the right, he spotted Emily, his CSI replacement with long dark brown hair tied in a ponytail, "Singh didn't tell me you were passing by today."

"He... actually doesn't know, yet," truthfully answered Barry, uncomfortably glancing around as he noticed that more and more people spotted his presence now that his name had been shouted all around the place.

"Oh okay. Umm, are you sure you're okay? You look a bit tired?" Emily asked.

It was no mystery to anyone close to the speedster that the poor young man hadn't slept much in the last week, but he just couldn't resist going back to his workplace despite the concern of his team and family. He needed something to focus on right now.

"Yeah... I'm good, just had a rough week," he carefully said, barely able to contain the fatigue in his voice.

Emily frowned suspiciously, his lie was too obvious, but she chose to pretend like she didn't know.

"What about you? Heard you did something pretty courageous a couple of weeks ago, saving Vibe and that woman."

Blushing, the newly graduated woman pushed her hair behind her ears, "oh, that was nothing. It wasn't anything the Flash wouldn't have done had he been there. I'm not a hero."

"You're one in my book. Thanks for what you did," said Barry, genuinely grateful someone had been there, looking out after his friend, while he was gone.

Embarrassed, Emily preferred to quickly move on to a different subject than her actions. She just did what she felt was right.

"I'm excited for us to work together, I have a lot to learn from you," she blabbed excitedly.

Barry opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted as a voice boomed from the other side of the precinct, Singh's voice, "Allen! My office. Now."

That didn't sound too happy. But, to be fair, angry seemed to be Singh's default expression. Emily gently patted him on the shoulder and grinned, "see you later, then. That is if you survive."

Barry nodded and joined his boss, hoping he wasn't about to get yelled at for... some reason. Not that he had done anything wrong, it's just that Singh never seemed to like him too much. Surprisingly, as soon as the speedster carefully closed the door behind him and took a seat, his boss expression softened.

"Are you okay, Allen?"

"Yeah, yeah I am," instantly answered Barry, uncomfortably shifting in the chair 'til he found a comfortable position. The hero wasn't really in the mood to talk about his feelings with his boss at the moment. He, instead, opted to switch the subject of their conversation toward the reason he was there in the first place, "just want to get back to work, I'm ready for it."

Singh slumped a bit in his chair, playing with his pencil between his fingers and studying his employee's expression as he was trying to discern the truth for himself instead of trusting Barry's words.

"Are you sure you don't need a few extra days? Or, a few extra weeks, maybe? Looks like you had a really tough week."

Barry stiffened and made another attempt at changing the subject to drift it as far away as possible from his health, "I just want my job back, if it's still there. Last we spoke on the phone you said I could go back to my lab, so, how will this work? Will I get to work side by side with Emily?"

Studying Barry's face closely for one extra moment, Singh straightened himself up and put his pencil on the desk before seriously looking at the young man in front of him, "actually, Allen, I've been thinking about it and Emily's been doing a really great job. I don't think I can put you back as being a junior CSI."

Barry nervously shifted again in his seat as the captain opened up the first drawer of his desk and took out a couple of form's page to complete.

"Captain, with all your respect, I need this job and Joe told me that Emily is barely fresh out of school. There's a lot of things I can teach her," he argued back, needing to save his job.

Singh nodded solemnly as he handed the form over to his employee, putting the papers right in front of Barry who didn't even dared to look at them. Was he getting fired?

Singh nodded again, "I agree."

"Plus, I think that-" Barry stopped in his arguing when the last sentence from his boss arrived at his ears. Wait for what? "I don't get it?"

"I agree, Emily still need supervision and teaching. This department really needs you," calmly said Singh, gently pushing the form closer to his employee before entangling his fingers together.

"What are you saying?" Barry slowly, carefully questioned.

"I'm saying it's about damn time for the CSI department to have a director. Opening a new position does require a bit of paperwork. The job is all yours if you want it."

"I don't... sir, I don't know what to... what t-" stammered Barry, eyes wide in shock.

The captain smiled fondly, "just tell me you'll think about-"

"There's nothing to think about. Of course, I want the job!" Exclaimed the young man, jumping to his feet and extending his arm, offering a hand that his boss shook without hesitation.

"I'm happy you took that decision. You'll be able to teach everything you know to Emily. I just know you two will work great together. Plus, it will give you a more flexible schedule for your extracurricular heroism activities," finished the police captain with a little smile at the corner of his mouth, which caused Barry to freeze and squeeze his boss' hand harder than he intended to do.

"Sir, I don't...it' not w-"

"Calm down, Allen," answered Singh with a reassuring tone while gently priding open the hand that was trapping his own as he spoke, "I wouldn't be a very good detective if I hadn't been able to figure that one out. Plus, I wouldn't have offered you a new job if I was about to get you arrested, wouldn't I?"

Finishing his sentence, the captain managed to free his hand as the hero's grip loosened up. Clearly relieved, Barry visibly swallowed and exhaled loudly, "thank you, Captain."

"Look, Barry," continued Singh as he sat back and gestured to Barry to do the same, "I was there when you got shot. I saw what Miss. Woodward did for you."

The hero swallowed again, but this time it was to fight back the rising tears.

"I'm sorry about your friend, looks like you guys were close," gently added the captain, full of empathy.

"We were," confirmed Barry, nodding and sniffing loudly.

"What she did... it was courageous and selfless, she was as much of a hero as you are. If you need time off to grief-"

"I'm okay, Captain. I really need to work, I had been away for too long, I need to get my mind off of everything,"

"Of course, I understand," nodded Singh, "I want you to know that I'm planning on honouring her with the award of valour in an official ceremony next weekend, for saving our town's hero. That's the least I can do."

It was with a bittersweet smile on his face that Barry wiped his falling tears, the ones he didn't even remember feeling gathering.

"Thank you, sir, it means a lot."

"Please, when we're in private like this, you can call me David. It's an honour to work so closely with Central city's own Scarlet Speedster."

Nodding, Barry was about to add something but stopped himself when they heard officers rushing all around, just outside the office.

"Sir," called out Officer Max as he opened the door of the police captain's office, "there's a hostage situation at the Gold City Bank."

"Thank you, I'm coming in an instant. I think we were done here, right mister Allen? I think there's someplace you need to be," he added, sharing a look of understanding with his young employee whose sadness transformed into sheer determination as electricity flashed in his eyes, literally. It wasn't much but just enough for his boss to see.

"I'm going," he exclaimed, getting up and striding as fast as he could without running to go outside under the glance of a man who looked at him with pride.

The real amount of time it took to cover the distance between the police station and the bank was barely mere seconds, but for the speedster super-mind, it felt way longer. Way, way longer. Feeling the electricity rushing through his veins and the wind on his face, his memory decided to slip back into the last nine months. Barry could remember it all, he could still feel the heat of the fire where Hyde first trapped him and the agony when he first got fed upon. He could remember Matt's soothing voice that convinced him to not kill himself or Olivia's gentle and warm hands healing his wounds. It was just a clear in his mind as the dread when he almost killed Caitlin or the heartache he got the first time he laid his eyes on baby Lindy, that poor baby girl who would never see her dad. That girl was about to live her entire life without her daddy, Matt because Barry failed to protect him as he did with Olivia. Present and past were mixing and memories were switching from one to another. He was going to need to move on from all of that, for Olivia, for Matt, and for everyone who suffered at the hands of Hyde and his organisation. He needed to be strong, if not for him, at least for his family and for Matt's widow, Amanda, who asked him to stick around.

Just like Singh promised, Olivia got honoured as the heroine she was, as the one who saved the Flash's life and the mayor went on to give her parents the key to the city. The Flash returned protecting his city like before, fighting countless enemies like the Thinker, Cicada, Godspeed and so many others. Every time he would falter and fall, his eyes would look at the blue suit hanging on display at the lab for strength and inspiration. The healer who used to wear that suit might be long gone, but Barry was never going to forget her.

*****FLASHFLASHFLASH*****

_18 years later:_

Barry rushed down the stairs, two steps at the time, as he hurriedly finished to fix the tie around his neck. Yeah, sure, he could've just superspeed himself to the door to answer it but, during the last decade, he slowly learned to appreciate doing as many things as possible in the normal time. Life was a real paradox; the faster you go, the more stuff you miss out on. Has it really been a full ten years since he bought that two floors, plus the basement, house with Iris? Time sure flies, he could still clearly remember moving boxes and furniture with Joe as Iris was trying to keep an eye on the twins who were just starting to learn how to walk and were in desperate need of going on an exploration trip despite their short and shaky legs. Dawn and Don had grown up so much since then, only a couple of extra more years and they would already be teenagers.

Bringing his mind back to the present as the speedster arrived downstairs, Barry walked into the hallway to join the lobby and opened up his door. On the doorstep, just as he expected, was standing a five-foot-nine tall young woman with long, black as night and curly hair descending all the way 'til the middle of her beige winter coat. Barry smiled warmly at the sight.

"Hey, Lindy, I'm so glad you could make it. I'm sorry I made you come on such short notice," he greeted, "I really gotta go take care of that work emergency and with Iris out of state for the rest of the week, Joe in vacation and the twins at school, I didn't have much of a choice."

Lindy's mouth twitched, "Don't worry about it, you know I can't miss an opportunity to see the little peanut. How is she?"

"She still has the flu, but she's better now," assured Barry, "I just don't want to send her back at school 'til she's completely healed."

"That poor baby, she always seems to be the one getting sick instead of her brother and sister," observed Lindy, causing Barry to chuckle slightly. Oh, she had no idea. These twins were real tornados, in every sense of the way. Their fast metabolism was keeping them really healthy, something his last born didn't seem to have.

"She's strong in her own ways. Now, come here you," said Barry before moving forward and wrapping his arms around the young woman, a gesture that got returned instantly. As the woman moved out of the embrace and pushed her black untie hair behind her ears, Barry just stared blankly and smiled a bit more. The more she was growing up, the more she was a stunning representation of her mom; tall, slim and just beautiful. She really was Amanda's daughter and, in her features and in her eyes and nose, Barry could almost see his old friend Matt in her. No doubt about her parents.

"Why are looking at me like that?" Asked Lindy, smiling at the older man.

"I can't believe how much and how fast you grew up. Already 18 years old... I just wish your dad would see her right now."

The woman blushed slightly, "don't go all soft on me now," she said.

"How's your mum? And your brothers?" Asked Barry, awkwardly changing the subject in the same manner Lindy got used to for as long as she could remember, which made her chuckle.

"Yeah, my mom's great. They all are. My brother Mark actually just got promoted this week to the post of vice-president in the family's company."

As she was speaking, the woman with black hair took a moment to check behind the metahuman, probably looking for the young girl she was about to babysit.

"That's great to hear," said Barry, who walked on the side to let Lindy pass him and took her long coat off. The pale blue sleeveless top she was wearing underneath was clearly showing her muscular arms, which is what happens when you grow up with two older brothers. That and all the sport she had been doing, becoming captain of her school's basketball team and doing some horse riding on the side. She was quite the busy and strong girl.

"How's school?" He added, regaining the young woman's attention as her focus had slightly drifted again toward the end of the hallway.

"My final projects are going to come fast, but I'm ready," she said with confidence, "plus, don't tell anyone just yet, only my mom knows, but I received this morning my acceptance letter to med school!"

Scratching his three days old beard, Barry couldn't help the overjoyed chuckle that escaped his lips, celebrating, "that's amazing! Congrats!"

"Oh, and before I forget, my mom wanted me to thank you for bringing your family to our New Year party. It was really great having you there."

Barry smiled fondly as he hung the woman's coat to the hooks and closed the door as he felt the shivering cold trying to enter his home, "I wouldn't have missed it, you guys are family. So, what about the boyfriend?"

"Still in the picture," replied the young woman, slightly blushing again but still answering without missing a beat.

"Hoping he's still treating you well, cause-"

"Come on Barry, I've known you all my life and you're the closest thing I've ever had to a dad, but you being overprotective isn't as cute as you think," she teased, smirking.

"As long as you're safe and happy, I'm fine with it," teased back Barry. Well, more like half-seriously and half-teasing. He once told Amanda that he wasn't going to be a stranger and he promised himself he would look out after his friend's daughter and he had been keeping both of these promises. He had, in fact, seen Lindy growing up for a full seven years before he became a dad himself. In a way, she almost was like a daughter to him.

Just as Matt's daughter was about to add something, a little voice was heard, shouting in overwhelming joy, as much joy that could possibly irradiate from a six-year-old, "Lily! You're here!"

The little girl that ran down the stairs, Barry and Iris' last born, was tall for her age and had auburn hair attached in one French braid.

"Hey Peanut!" Exclaimed Lindy, picking up the little girl and lifting her off her. In one swift movement, Linda made a complete 360-degree turn on herself, laughing lightly, "you're getting pretty tall and heavy, young lady!"

When Barry's daughter went back to the ground, giggling like there was no tomorrow, she barely managed to pronounce her next words: "I'm too old to be a peanut anymore."

"Oh yeah? Is that a fact? Are you old enough to fight me?" Barely finishing her sentence, Lindy started tickling intensively the young girl under her armpit, making her laugh even more. Trying to protect herself, the little girl tightly squeezed her arms right against her body and crawled as close as possible to the woman attacking her, hoping Lindy couldn't attack at close range.

Barry smiled fondly at the scene. Had it really been just over 18 years since he first saw Lindy sleeping on the table? It felt like it was yesterday, but it wasn't as he was now closing on his 46th birthday. Matt's daughter reaching maturity was really making him feel old and nostalgic, what happened to all these days where Lindy was the one being six years old?

Kneeling on the ground, Barry put himself on the same level than his daughter who faced him, smiling widely despite her couple of missing teeth.

"Daddy's got to go, but I'll be back in a few hours, alright? You're gonna be a good girl for Lindy?"

The little girl nodded enthusiastically; "course I will. I love you, daddy."

"I love you too. Come on, come give your old man a big hug," added Barry, smiling.

The little legs moved quickly, too quickly, and ended up awkwardly stumbling in her hurry to cover the distance. The six-year-old avoided the fall at the last moment when her dad caught her and put her back on her feet.

"So, Olivia, you think you can keep an eye on Lindy for me while I'm gone?"

"I'll behave, I promised," assured Lindy, chuckling, while Barry was picking up a black briefcase next to the door.

"I left you a little something in the kitchen, call it an extra birthday gift," mysteriously added Barry as he straightened himself up and walked around the ladies.

Lindy blinked a few times, another gift? The once she received a couple of weeks ago from the West-Allen family was sweet enough.

"Really? You shouldn't have, you alread-"

"You'll see," blinked Barry as grabbed the door's handle and turned around one last time to face Lindy and his six-year-old daughter Olivia, "I'll explain everything when I get back."

Explain? Explain what? Intrigued, Lindy tried to ask more, but by the time the question formed on her lips, the man was already gone, closing the door behind him and flashing away. A huge discussion was awaiting him tonight, he had waited so long for it even if he wasn't sure he was ready. Meanwhile, as he raced through the city, he let his mind wander off to his past, grateful for everything that happened to him in the last 18 years, things that wouldn't have happened if Olivia Woodward hadn't brought him back home. She might've been dead for almost two decades, but Barry could still hear and remember the sound of her voice as clearly now as he did then.

"Olie, mind waiting here for me for a second?" asked the Lindy to the little girl who nodded.

Frowning, Matthew's daughter started walking toward the kitchen where she instantly spotted the gift-wrapped box sitting on the dinner table. For some unknown reason, she could feel her heart pick up the pace. She felt like it was important. Unwrapping the bright red papers, she carefully opened the lid and gasped, frozen, at what was hidden inside; the Flash's white emblem. Could it be? Was Barry?

If he was, it meant… her dad really saved the Flash before dying and really knew him. And, she knew him too. Lindy's hands were shaking as she took the emblem between them. It sure was going to be quite a chat she was going to have with the man tonight…

**THE END (!)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's over. For real. After 2 full years. The first chapter of Wounds of the Soul was posted on July 26th, 2016, but I had been working on that story for months before that. I finished writing the last words weeks ago, but I still can't believe it's over.
> 
> This trilogy is 3 stories, 67 chapters, almost 200K words and 387 comments. I don't even know the words to THANK you guys, SO MUCH. Wish I could send you thousands of hugs to each and every one of you who saw this adventure from the very beginning, from Barry first getting captured to meeting Matt, then Olivia. I would never had been to write so many chapters for so long without your support. Thank you. Thank you so much.
> 
> here you go, one final chance to leave a comment for this chapter, this story and this whole trilogy. Did you like the ending? Do you have any favorite memory from this adventure? Any character you'll miss reading about? Or just...anything on your mind.
> 
> Let's make it to 400 comments (only 13 more needed) everyone! One final achievement for this incredible adventure that I know we can do
> 
> One last time: THANK YOU.
> 
> Oh, and, one last question; is anyone interested in a companion piece of this story? Thought about maybe adding some quick, small, moments happening during these 18 missing years.


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